Total Drama Fantasy
by agreenparrot
Summary: An All-Star season with a collection of my OCs over the years. 30 contestants are trapped inside a virtual fantasy world where they compete for first place!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hi friends! ^-^ I haven't been writing much lately partly because of how busy I've been and partly because of lack of motivation; I've tried starting numerous projects and most of them couldn't get past the first episode, so I said I would hold off uploading anything new until I knew I was dedicated to it. I think this project could be the next one though! I present to you an All-Star series featuring characters from all my completed works. Hope you enjoy!_

The camera panned around a vast land; it soared over an ocean and golden beaches, coming to a spanning field. It circled around a monumental city towering in the middle of the field, showing the busy people constantly in motion. It soared away from this town and came to a fantastical forest with trees of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Moving away from this, it rose high and higher up a mammoth mountain; the higher it rose, the more snow began to fill the scene until it was almost entirely white. Then it drew back out, lingering at the blue sky. Suddenly the clear sky was filled with a massive head of a black haired handsome man.

"Greetings, viewers!" he boomed with a grin. "I am Chris McClean and we have already entered the virtual world, using technology like you've never seen before…unless you watched Total Drama Switcheroo, but otherwise it's new! And what's more we've brought back 30 of your favorite and most hated players from the previous eight seasons! They've been spread all around the map and will be fighting for survival in this fantastical world!"

Several flashes occurred around the land. The camera moved to show various teens awkwardly falling from thin air and landing in different locations.

"Six former players have been scattered over five different regions," Chris continued, "There they will face off against off beasts and monsters of the world, all while having to provide for their own needs of survival. This isn't your typical season though, there will be no votes, no challenge, no marshmallows! Instead there will be a number of goals that they can fulfil to move on, each region has five, meaning one person from each land will be left without one and will be eliminated that way…of course they can still just plain old die and get eliminated that way. The lands are full of dangers at every turn and only the strongest will prevail! Let's get to it, this is…Total Drama Fatansy!"

The camera dropped and zoomed into the field. It showed a thin girl with brown hair that was highlighted with violet streaks. She wore a magenta shirt and mauve skirt.

"Ugh," she groaned as she hit the ground.

She shook herself off and stood up, taking in her surroundings.

"Where am I?" she remarked.

All she could see was rolling hills in all directions.

"Well, that's helpful," she remarked.

She began to wander through the hills, in search of anything or anyone else. After some time of walking, she heard a horn blare. She turned to face the source of the sound and began to walk towards that instead. However, she soon wished she hadn't. An army of green creatures emerged from the crest of the hill and were charging straight at her. They had leathery skin and wore loose rags over their bodies. Some road on furious black ponies, others wielded weapons such as clubs or pitchforks, all of them had packs slung around their backs. And all of them seemed to have their eyes angrily set on the girl. She took the cue and turned the other way running. She managed to keep a bit of a lead, but she knew she couldn't keep it up forever, especially with the number of creatures riding on animals. Her time ran up sooner than she had hoped though when she tripped over an uneven patch of ground, falling to the ground. In no time she was surrounded by the creatures. They danced around her viciously, wielding their weapons wildly. The girl scrambled desperately for anything she could, but found herself absolutely trapped. Suddenly a stone was flung at the creatures. It made contact with one of the ponies, sending it into a fury. The animal galloped off, shocking its rider and causing him to fall off, colliding with another. Another stone was thrown and it hit the shoulder of one of the creatures. The reptilian being angrily swung its axe at its nearest comrade.

"Move it, you big ugly stupid things!" someone shouted from the top of another hill.

It was a girl with black hair done up in a pair of buns. She wore a black tank top and shorts, and a pair of sharp specatcles.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, dumbo!" she sneered while grabbing another rock and tossing it at the face of one of the reptile creatures.

This one gave an angry cry and lunged at the girl; it was soon followed by the others.

"Do your worst!" the girl snapped, but soon realized her danger and began to run as well.

The other girl who had just escaped certain death had gotten back up and realized one of the packs had fallen off in the initial scuffle. She saw a hilt poking out of it and reached down to grab it. She drew a thin crimson blade.

"Looks like it's time to get dirty," she remarked.

She chased after the creatures, as soon as she was close enough she dug the blade into the back of one of them. Green goo splurted out of the wound, the creature gave an agonized cry, and then fell to the ground.

"Um, Hel-LO!" the girl in black called. "I just saved your life, could you freaking hurry up and help me here!?"

The girl in magenta sighed and continued to chase after the creatures. She swung her sword wildly, slicing at the creatures wherever she could. They seemed vanquished easily enough, a single wound was enough to have them drop to the ground in agony. There were too many to stop altogether though. Two of them reached the girl in black and began to grab and tug at her arms.

"Let go of me this instance, you sickos!" the girl spat.

One of them was suddenly pulled back by someone else. The girl used the chance to break free and knee her other attacker between the legs. The creature groaned in pain, and the girl took advantage of this to grab hold and slam it into the ground. She turned around to see a boy wrestling with the other one. He eventually managed to grip it by the head and slam it against a nearby wrong, rendering it motionless. The boy stood up and turned around. He had brown hair and chestnut eyes. He wore a tan vest but was otherwise topless.

"Oh, it's you," the girl in magenta said with moderate disdain as she caught up.

"Jacquie?" the boy asked with a hint of bemused shock.

"What are you doing here, Caleb?" she snapped. "This was supposed to be MY season!"

"I thought last season was YOUR season," Caleb replied with a laugh, "You know…the one you won?"

"What's your point?" Jacquie scoffed.

"Oh, so you two know each other, well that's just great, don't bother introducing me or anything," the girl in black snapped.

"I'm Caleb," the boy said, "This is Jacquie."

"Well I figured that out from your embarrassingly childish conversation just now," the girl spat, "Do I look that dense to you!?"

"We were finalists on Total Drama Switcheroni," Jacquie filled in.

"Ugh, here we go with the bragging," the girl groaned. "I do not CARE about your life story, you know what, let's just go before more of those little gremlins show up."

"But you're the one who—" Jacquie began to say.

"Less talking, more going!" the girl ordered.

"Can we at least know your name?" Caleb asked.

"Ugh, what is this, you gotta know EVERYTHING about me now!?" the girl snapped. "It's Mel. There, happy!? Now let's GO already!"

* * *

(Elsewhere)

A girl with golden blonde hair in a ponytail was cautiously wandering through a forest. She wore a large pink dress that was just scraping up dirt, branches, and other clingy features of nature as she walked.

"Okay, okay…forest," she said to herself, "big scary forest with no one around. I got this! I can do this!"

She put on a bright smile and walked forward. All around her trees loomed over her; vines and large leaves dangled above her head. She had to wade through seas of ferns and thick thorns.

"This is an adventure!" she told herself as she tore her dress through a series of thorns. "And I am the hero! Look at me go!"

With another step she suddenly was submerged in murky water, hidden by a coat of lilypads and fallen leaves.

"I am WET!" she sobbed as she re-emerged. "Ugh, ick, gross, ew!"

She floundered through the water awkwardly, having a hard time telling the difference between land and water. She was aided though by a stranger extending a hand. She took it and was pulled back to the ground. Her dress dripping with mud and sagging around her now.

"I really need to talk to Chris about a wardrobe change this is not okay," she groaned.

"Don't hold your breath on that," her saviour said.

She was a girl with long red hair and a blue beret. She wore a gold jacket over a grey shirt and brown pair of jeans.

"Roquette," she introduced.

"Hi, I'm Annie!" the girl said eagerly while shaking her hand and getting mud on her.

Roquette gave a brief annoyed sigh as she wiped her hand against a fern, but followed it with a smile.

"Well guess I should be more careful," Annie remarked, "This forest is clearly full of nasty surprises."

"Hey girls!" someone called.

"You don't say," Roquette remarked with a sideways glance at Annie.

The two looked up to see a small boy with very light blonde fluffy hair in a ponytail. He had a light blue hoodie and blue jeans. He was sitting in a tree branch with a playful smirk on his face.

"Name's Keith, care to come up and join me?" he asked. "Nothing can get you up here."

He was soon proved wrong, though, as a vine he was sitting next to began to slither on its own. It coiled around his leg and dragged him down.

"Wah!" he cried as he was pulled into the vegetation.

"We should help him!" Annie exclaimed.

"Nah," Roquette replied as she headed off in the other direction. "He seems like he can handle himself, we'd only be wasting our breath."

"Are you sure?" Annie asked as she followed after her.

"Positive," Roquette said without looking back. "Besides, we've no doubt got work to do. I mean, it's up to you, you can either waste your time oohing and aahing over every little thing, or we can actually focus on getting something done."

"Let's do that, the second thing!" Annie exclaimed.

"That's what I thought," Roquette replied. "Hey, look at this."

She spotted a bow and quiver of arrows placed against a tree.

"Wow, where do you think that came from?" Annie asked.

"Who cares?" Roquette replied. "We could probably use something like this."

Meanwhile, Keith was still wrestling with the serpentine vine. It was coiling tighter and tighter around him, but he managed to wriggle his way free and drop to the ground. He hit the muddy surface, but recovered quickly. The vine swiveled through the air furiously. Keith dove for shelter in some bushes, but he didn't lose his predator. He quickly grabbed a twig and began swinging it to try to fend off the sentient plant. His weapon snapped upon impact though.

"Come on, give me a break," he sighed.

He ducked and rolled to avoid being snared again. He made a dash through the woods. The vine snaked after him all the way though. Eventually he just desperately leapt across the ground. As the vine neared his ankle it was suddenly skewered by an arrow and dropped limp. Keith hit the ground and rolled through the leaves. He looked up to see Roquette across the distance with a bow in her hand. She shot him a smirk.

"Good shot!" Keith said while giving her a thumbs up.

"That sure was lucky," Annie remarked to Roquette, "just imagine if you'd been a second quicker you would have hit him. That sure would have been ugly!"

"Oh, I can imagine," Roquette replied coyly.

* * *

(Elsewhere again)

A thin boy with orange hair under a green toque walked along the edge of a mountain path. He wore a green shirt and khaki pants…none of it looked warm enough for the climate he was going through. He shivered as snow beat down on him. His legs were already sinking into the snow all around him. He could barely see anything but white in all directions. He kept his eyes on the path and watched each step he took. From what little he could see, he knew that he was high up and one wrong step could spell certain doom.

"Oof!" he exclaimed as he suddenly walked into something.

He rubbed his nose and looked around. He realized he had walked right into a rock wall.

"Looks like I'm going up," he remarked.

He felt around the wall and eventually found a groove he could fit his hands into. He pulled himself up the wall and struggled to keep himself moving. Twice he nearly slipped and fell, but he managed to dig his foot into the wall again and regain his balance. Eventually he made it to the ledge and pulled himself up to another endless valley of snow.

"Woo," he said unenthusiastically.

He continued to trudge through the snow. However, as he did he began to feel some movement. It started out as a minor tremor but got more and more violent. Pretty soon it turned into a full avalanche; a cascade of crushing snow was pouring right his way. He had nowhere to run, the storm was coming right for him at an alarming speed.

"Booyakasha!" someone exclaimed as he was tackled to the ground and pulled into a cave.

He found himself facing a large girl with frizzy black hair in a pair of buns wearing a green dress with several yellow flowers on it.

"I just saved your life!" she exclaimed.

"Oh," the boy replied. "Thanks?"

"No problem, pally!" she exclaimed while slapping him on the back. "BonBon's the name, flirting's my game! Though I'm off limits now, got myself the man of my dreams and I couldn't be happier! You?"

"Neil's my name, causing long lasting scarring trauma on victims with low self-esteem is my game," he replied.

"Hm…you sound like a weirdo," BonBon said, "I like it!"

"So…" Neil said as he glanced at the entrance now totally blocked with snow. "We're stuck in here?"

"Looks like it!" BonBon said cheerily. "But we're still alive! That was a close one, eh?"

"I guess," he said as he got up and began to pace around. "What about food, water, warmth, any of that?"

"Nope, nope, and nope!" BonBon said.

"Great so…sounds like we're screwed," Neil said.

"Oh that's no attitude to have, look at the positives, man!" BonBon said. "You'll never make it through this if you have to be a Debbie Downer on everything."

"I'm sorry," Neil said, "Do tell me all the positives you see of being trapped in a cave with no means of survival?"

"Well…we're still alive!" BonBon said.

"Yeah, you said that already," Neil said.

"Well, excuuuuuuse me if I see still being alive as ten times more important than any of those silly things you just mentioned," BonBon said. "Now come on and get up, we've got some spelunking to do!"

* * *

(Elsewhere for a third time)

A girl with light blonde hair, a pink sunhat, and fancy pink dress was walking along the golden sand against the blue sea.

"Why this is just beautiful!" she exclaimed.

She playfully swung herself around a palm tree before sitting beneath it.

"Why this is just like being on vacation," she said, "Daddy has never ever taken me anywhere as nice as this."

"That's enough of that!" someone exclaimed from behind her.

The girl jumped up with a fright and turned to see her new companion. It was a tall girl with black hair in a ponytail. She wore a dark magenta dress and brown belt.

"There will be no vacationing on Nighthawk's game!" she barked. "On your toes at all times, be ready for danger, never know when you need to jump into action!"

"Oh um…o-okay?" the girl replied. "I'm—"

"Portia Sussman, daughter to successful entrepreneur, Gregory Sussman," the taller girl listed, "Ninth place finisher on Total Drama Strandarama."

"Oh…you certainly know a lot about me," Portia said somewhat uncertainly.

"Nighthawk does all adequate research on those that I will be dealing with, friend or foe alike, for your sake you had better hope to be the former!" Nighthawk said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a retarded four year old?" a third voice sneered.

Nighthawk whipped her head around and faced a short boy with black hair and red headband. He wore a purple jacket over a blue shirt and black shorts.

"No, no they have not, Calvin Payne, winner of Total Drama Stranded and you want to know why not? Why I'll got ahead and tell you why not the reason why not is because that would be an insult, and not just any insult, oh no, an insult to the Nighthawk, and insulting the Nighthawk is step one in making an enemy out of the Nighthawk, you want an enemy out of the Nighthawk? Let me answer that for you, you don't! It doesn't end well for people," the girl said all while glaring into the boy's eyes.

"You done?" the boy asked.

"Nighthawk is never done, that's what separates me from a one hit wonder like you!" she said. "Whatcha gonna do now? Reach for your weapon? Too bad! Nighthawk already disarmed you just like that!" snaps "in the blink of an eye! Defenseless, at my mercy, the tables have turned have they not? No they have not for to imply that the tables where ever turned in such a way that favored you would be laughable. Ahahaha! Hear me laugh, laugh at the thought of you besting me the Nighthawk! Ha!"

"…Uh…I don't have any weapons," Calvin said.

"That's right, you do NOT!" the Nighthawk said, "because I disarmed you! You catch on quick! Nighthawk out!"

With that she dropped a smoke bomb and disappeared.

"Well…she seems like quite the character," Portia remarked.

"She seems like a freak I hope we never see her again," Calvin said.

He tried to step forward but suddenly flopped to the ground. Nighthawk quickly emerged from behind a palm tree.

"Aha, surprise, I also tied your shoelaces together when you weren't looking!" she boasted. "I didn't tell you about this though, OH NO! I never reveal my whole hand, that's a rookie mistake, I'm always twelve steps while you're still looking on with that dazed look at the start line. It's a three pronged attack, you see. First the weapons, then the shoes, what's step three you ask? Oh you'll see, you'll see, but NOT now! You'll see at some point in the future, could be tomorrow could be by the end of the month, but it won't be pretty, think about THAT while you sleep! Nighthawk out!"

With that she once again disappeared into a puff of smoke.

* * *

(Elsewhere once more)

A boy with a messy mop of orange-brown hair walked through an underground complex. He wore a grey shirt with purple stripes and mauve shorts. He walked nervously, quivering each step of the way. His head darted from side to side at all times. Every time something clicked beneath his feet he cowered and counted to ten before continuing. Suddenly something grabbed his shoulder.

"Waaah, don't hurt me!" he cried while slapping the air in a panic.

"At ease, I'm not going to hurt you," a woman said.

He looked up to see a muscular girl with messy brown hair. She wore a purple headband and matching shirt along with a navy pair of shorts.

"I think we're in the same boat here," she said, "so it might do to stick together. I'm Ilona."

"R-Rich," the boy said while extending his shaking hand.

"Take it easy," Ilona said, "have you even seen anything out here yet?"

"N-no," Rich said, "but it's a dark scary underground temple…you don't need to be an expert to know that spells bad news."

"Well let's just stay close, I'm sure we'll be fine," Ilona said.

The two continued to walk through the decaying ruins. Eventually they came to a chamber; the walls were lined with crevices and various intricate paintings.

"Is it just me or did it get icy cold all of a sudden?" Rich asked.

"I think you may be overreac—" llona began before she was interrupted by the sound of movement coming from behind the walls. "What is that?"

Suddenly the crevices widened and the walls split open. A horde of skeletons and corpses lumbered out and moved towards the duo. They moaned and groaned while stretching out their hands ominously.

"Not good, not good!" Rich sobbed.

Ilona delivered a firm kick to the nearest zombie and it fell apart.

"Come on, they're not that tough," she said.

She delivered a few more blows to others approaching. It was then that she realized they were approaching from all sides.

"Aaah!" Rich cried as he closed his eyes and slapped blindly.

Ilona sighed before performing a twirling kick, knocking back several corpses in all directions. More and more kept coming but she managed to keep them at bay. Rich contributed my frantically dashing around the chamber trying to avoid ever getting too close to one of the monsters. Ilona was beginning to get overwhelmed. For every one she knocked back, two more seemed to take its place.

"Okay no strategy," she said, "Let's get out of here!"

"I'm so on it!" Rich said as he scrambled his way between the corpses and ran out into the darkness.

"Oh sure, just leave me," Ilona sighed.

She used her shoulder to charge through a crowd of the zombies. Several more clung and pulled at her legs and back though. She tried to shrug them off, but they proved to be persistent. She had to turn to fight them, but this just allowed for more to come up from the other side.

"Eat glitter, you meanies!" someone exclaimed as they tossed a handful of glitter dust at the army of undead.

The creatures paused momentarily in confusion at the sudden "attack."

"That's your cue to run," the girl said.

Ilona took it. The zombies didn't stay stunned for long and soon chased after her. The other girl guided her through the passages and eventually pulled her up to niche at the top of a wall. The horde of corpses just ran right past them. Ilona turned to her saviour, it was a girl with chocolate brown hair and a black dress. She wore a set of silver wings and antennae and held a magic wand in her hand.

"Thanks for that," Ilona said.

"Always happy to help a poor innocent purehearted soul in need," the girl said, "not like that cowardly, no good, spineless SCUM that abandoned you! Hi, I'm Missy your new best friend!"

"Hi Missy, nice to meet you," Ilona said, "I guess we should go find that guy before he hurts himself.

"No, no would should not," Missy said eerily calmly as she gripped Ilona's wrist. "He abandoned you, it's only fitting that we abandon him. I hope he dies out there, it would be quite suiting. What you _should_ do is stick with me, your new best friend, so good?"

Missy gave Ilona a broad smile which Ilona weakly returned.

"We are going to have SO much fun together I just know it!" Missy laughed.

* * *

(The Sky)

"The battle is on!" Chris exclaimed, "The adventure begins! Who will prove to be a champion, who will fall short!? Tune in next time as we meet the rest of the cast on Total…Drama…Fantasy!"


	2. Chapter 2

(Field)

The sun beat down on the trio of Jacquie, Caleb, and Mel. The three had been walking through the grassy hills still coming up with nothing.

"Ugh, my feet are getting tired," Jacquie groaned. "All of me is getting tired, we've got no food and the sun won't stay up forever."

"Oh please, do you do ANYTHING other than complain?" Mel snapped.

"We've got to find something eventually," Caleb said. "Nothing goes on forever. I'm sure we can eat some…uh…"

He glanced around their surroundings.

"Grass?" he suggested.

"Sounds healthy," Mel remarked sarcastically.

"Let's just keep moving," Jacquie sighed.

After some more time passed, Caleb noticed something.

"Look up ahead, I think we may have found something," he exclaimed as he pointed to a silhouette.

"About time," Jacquie exclaimed.

They picked up the base and moved towards their target. As they neared it they saw it was a tent.

"Do you think it's one of the others?" Caleb asked.

"Only one way to find out," Jacquie said.

The approached the campsite. A woman emerged from the tent. She was an older woman with gray hair done in a braid. She wore a sleeveless brown tunic and gold yellow pants.

"I…don't think she's another player," Jacquie remarked.

"She must be a part of the virtual world," Caleb replied.

"You know I can hear you, right?" the woman said.

"Oh…sorry, uh…ma'am?" Caleb said.

"My name is Gillian," she said. "I was traveling with a group to the city, but we were overcome by the goblins. There were too many of them…I was the only one of my companions to escape."

"Well they clearly were a bunch of lightweights," Mel scoffed.

"All of her friends just died, maybe try a little tact," Caleb said.

"Newsflash, she's a computer generated projection, she doesn't have feelings!" Mel snapped. "And we handled those little monsters just fine, so I don't see what she's sobbing about."

"Well, that is good to hear then," Gillian interrupted, "if you can handle those beasts then perhaps you'd be able to accompany to the city. I've been too afraid to travel again on my own, but I've run out of supplies and I must make it there soon."

"This sounds perfect," Caleb remarked. "We can maybe find some food and shelter at this town and she knows the way."

"And not to mention this very well could be one of the goals we're meant to fulfill," Jacquie said.

"OR it sounds like a waste of time!" Mel snapped. "Nothing exciting ever happens at cities. This just sounds like an unnecessary distraction."

"Well it's better than just aimlessly wandering around," Caleb said.

"I disagree!" Mel spat. "You want to know where all the adventure is happening? It's out there with those monsters! We're not here to play babysitter, we're here to take a hint and get rid of them, now who's with me!?"

"Uh…I vote town," Jacquie said.

"Fine, I'll go on my own, I don't need you slowing me down," Mel grumbled as she marched back the way they had come.

"So…I take it she will not be joining us?" Gillian asked.

"Guess not," Caleb replied.

"Good," Gillian said.

* * *

(Forest)

Keith was walking along the ground by now. He was cautiously keeping his distance from any dangling vines, which proved to be difficult as they were nearly everywhere.

"Ugh, this is cruel," he sighed as he stopped to rest on a rock. "I could be soaring through the trees right now if I didn't have to mistrust every vine out here."

He glared at a nearby vine dangling by his face.

"Keep your distance," he ordered.

He should have been more worried about the vine behind him though. It slinked down to his back and rested on his shoulder, before rapidly coiling itself around his neck.

"Aach kcack!" Keith groaned as he was strangled.

Suddenly the vine was sliced through by a boomerang. A girl with long red hair and a yellow sunhat jumped down from the trees and caught the weapon as it returned. She wore a white shirt and blue pants.

"Howdy!" she greeted. "Or should I say…G'day mate. See cause I'm Australian and that's what we say!"

"Hi," Keith said while rubbing his neck.

"Yeah, gotta watch out for them little demons, right," the girl remarked. " 'Course out here is actually safer than back home at Australia! Cause see I'm Australian, right, and over there we got all kinds of crazy critters—"

"Yeah, I get it," Keith said.

"You're kinda scrawny, aren't ya?" the girl remarked. "Wouldn't want something to snap you up, would ya!?"

"I…guess not?" Keith said.

"Then it's settled, let's be partners!" she said. "Name's Montana!"

"Keith," Keith replied.

"Hiya, Keith!" Montana said. "Wanna see something cool? Sure you do! Come with me!"

Montana grabbed Keith by the arm and pulled him up as she climbed a tree. The two rose high above the ground and through the leaves.

"Where are we…going?" Keith asked as he was dragged through the branches and leaves.

"Oh you'll see!" Montana assured.

Reaching a pocket in the leaves, the two came to a group of tiny brown monkeys playfully clamoring around the branches. They seemed completely unperturbed by their new visitors.

"Wow," Keith gasped.

"I know right, pretty swifty!" Montana exclaimed.

One of the monkeys hopped over to Keith and handed him a small orange fruit.

"Uh…thanks?" he said. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Eat it, silly!" Montana said. "Yep, I came across these guys not long ago, sweets things you'll ever meet, right. I think we lucked out right here!"

Elsewhere in the woods a boy was walking on his own. He had dark brown hair and a black sleeveless shirt with a red pentagram on it. He shoved his way through the leaves, but eventually spotted some movement.

"Huh?" he remarked.

He walked over to the source and saw a body writing in a thicket of brambles. They seemed to be totally tangled up in the thorny vines and their struggling amounted to nothing but getting them even more stuck.

"Here, let me help you out," the boy offered.

He received a firm kick to the shin as he neared the struggling body.

"Okay, stop moving," he said, "here just hold still and let me give you a hand here."

The boy torn away the brambles and offered out his hand. It was taken and he helped the other boy out. The victim had silver hair and a white and blue checkered jacket. He wore blue jeans that seemed worn and had several holes in them.

"I didn't need your help," he sneered.

"Really cause…it sure looked like it," the boy replied.

"Whatever, I knew what I was doing," the other sulked.

"Well anyways, I'm Duke," the first boy said. "Maybe we ought to stick together…in case you fall down again."

"Get lost," the other boy said as he stormed off.

"We are lost, we're in the middle of the woods," Duke said playfully as he walked along a log and followed the boy.

"Stop following me or you're really going to regret it," the other boy said.

"I'm not following you," Duke teased, "we just happen to be going the same way."

The boy suddenly grabbed a stick and swung it at Duke. Duke had quick reflexes though. He caught the stick and managed to twist it around, hitting the other boy under the chin and knocking him to the ground.

"Going to have to do better than that," Duke laughed.

He got down and offered his hand again, the boy just slapped it away.

"Okay look in all seriousness here," Duke said, "one thing I learned from my season is that you're always going to need someone. No matter what it never hurts to have someone on your side."

"That's great, why don't you find someone who cares?" the boy scoffed as he got up.

"Can I at least get a name?" Duke asked.

"It's Rudy," the boy answered.

"Well then, nice to meet you, Rudy," Duke replied. "Now…where are we headed?"

* * *

(Mountain)

A boy was making his way up a snowy slope. He had brown hair and a dark blue suit with a crimson tie. He lost his footing and fell to the ground stumbling through the snow. He slammed is hands down though and managed to push himself back up.

"Oof!" he groaned as snow bitterly blew into his face.

"You're doing great," a voice said from above.

He looked up to see a short girl with orange hair and a green headband sitting serenely on an upper ledge. She wore a blue sweater with red patterns that was somewhat too big for her and a silver necklace.

"Take it easy, remember to breathe, and you'll be fine," she said.

"Do you think you could help me?" the boy asked.

"Now that's a curious question," the girl remarked as she pondered it. "You know, I suppose I think I could help you."

She remained stationary as the boy slipped again and hit the ground hard.

"Well!?" he snapped as he clung to a sharp rock.

"Well," the girl echoed.

"Any day now," the boy barked.

"Okay, how about Monday?" the girl suggested.

"Just help me!" the boy ordered.

"Oh, I'm afraid we may be at a misunderstanding," the girl said, "Why I said that I could help you, meaning that it was within my capabilities. That does not mean that I will."

"And why not," the boy said with a hint of desperateness as he began to slide further down.

"Because you have the strength within yourself," the girl replied, "You do not need help, you only desire it. But only when you have conquered your goal on your own will you unleash this potential."

"I don't need a fortune cookie," the boy said while clawing his way back up, "just a hand would be nice."

"Yes it would, wouldn't it?" the girl said. "Oh well."

The boy just groaned and grunted as he pulled himself up the slope. Eventually his hands were able to cling to the rock ledge and he was able to pull himself up. He climbed to the surface and joined the small girl.

"Hooray, you did it, doesn't that feel great!?" she exclaimed while clapping, except her applause was muffled by her sleeves.

"No thanks to you," the boy scoffed.

"That's right, it was ALL you!" the girl said. "You can do anything! Would you like some tea?"

"Anything to warm me up," the boy said.

"Me too, let's go find some," the girl said as she started to climb.

"Ugh," the boy groaned.

"I'm Mona, by the way," the girl said as she climbed. "And you must be…."

After an awkward silence the boy finally answered, "Hunter."

"Well hurry up then, Hunter, that tea won't brew itself," Mona replied as she continued to climb.

Higher up on the mountain stood a small village of sombre, broken down homes covered in snow. A boy with messy brown hair, a sky blue shirt, and blue jeans was walking through this town.

"Huh…where…where is everyone?" he said to himself nervously.

He walked around the town in a panic.

"Oh no…oh no!" he cried as he clutched his face. "I must be in…a ghosttown!"

He dropped to his knees desperately.

"Oh nonononono, ghosts FRIGHTEN me! Why'd it have to be ghosts!?" he sobbed.

"What is all the commotion about?" a girl remarked as she stuck her head out a window.

"AAAAH GHOST!" the boy cried as he leapt out. "Oh it's just Kitty…AAAAH THE GHOSTS GOT KITTY!"

"Charlie? That's you?" the girl said as she stepped out of the house.

The girl had blonde pigtails, square glasses, and a brown shirt with a purple and green stripe.

"Stay back, ghost!" Charlie exclaimed. "I'm gonna…I know how to…I'm uhhh…PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

"I'm not ghost, silly," Kitty laughed.

"Oh good…or is that exactly what a ghost would say!?" Charlie accused.

"No, what a ghost would say is, 'booooo!'" Kitty replied.

"AAAAH GHOST!" Charlie cried as he hid under a bucket.

"You done?" Kitty asked as she lifted up the bucket.

"Yeah, pretty much," Charlie said as he got up and dusted himself off.

Kitty guided him into building which seemed to be some sort of restaurant with barren tables lining the floor. Behind the counter stood a hunched-over an older man wearing an apron and bandana.

"There're people here, but this cold has really gotten them down to nothing," Kitty said. "There's barely any life left in them."

"Wow, that sounds bad," Charlie said.

"You bet it is," Kitty said, "Selfie time!"

She used her phone to click a photo of the two of them.

"My followers will just love this!" Kitty exclaimed. "Being brought back on this show has done wonders for my hits. I mean, this is the second time I've gotten to experience this never used before technology. But who's keeping track!? I am, I'm keeping track, see here."

She pulled out her tablet and revealed a graph.

"As you can see, I have gotten to be a part of virtual reality technology like this twice which is double the amount of almost everyone from here, and seeing as the rest of the world is at zero, that means I have infinitely more experience than them," Kitty recounted. "This is why I am #Trending right now."

"Um…Kitty…where is that getting power from?" Charlie asked. "I don't see any plugs or anything."

"A valid question!" Kitty exclaimed. "I figured Chris would try to cut me off, but I'm always thinking one step ahead! As you can see from this new addition, it's wirelessly connected to a device attached to my heart, taking the kinetic energy from each beat to power itself. Hm, judging from this monitor my heartbeat is getting low…you know what that means!"

"Uh, you could die?" Charlie asked.

"No!" Kitty exclaimed. "Well, probably, but more importantly, I could lose power. We need another coffee over here, pronto!"

* * *

(Beach)

Portia and Calvin walked along the sand together.

"Ooh, I have an idea," Portia remarked. "What if we tried to do some fishing? I actually got quite good at it back on my old season."

"Sounds good," Calvin said, "Make sure to get me a full meal, I'm probably going to need my strength."

"Ooor," Portia said as she pulled him along, "You could help out and we could make it a group effort!"

"Not my style," Calvin said as he shoved her away.

"Well you'd better make it your style quick," Portia said as she grabbed him again. "Or you're not going to get far out here."

"Alright let me tell you how I roll," Calvin said angrily. "People do what I say or else I'll make them regret it."

"Oh okay, I'm detecting a lot of hostility here," Portia said, "but if you don't mind me asking, how exactly do you intend to live up to your threats? I couldn't help but notice that you don't have any cronies with you, there's no voting in this game, and well…no offense but you don't exactly strike me as the most physically intimidating."

Calvin's face turned red as he fumed, "Well, I'll…I'm…I uh…um…shut up!"

"Hey, you two!" someone called from above. "Hurry up, you're going to want to see this!"

The two looked up to see Judie hanging off the side of the side of a rocky arch ahead of them. The two walked over to the natural monument.

"Come on, faster!" Judie snapped.

Calvin began to climb up the side of the rock. Portia was about to follow, when she noticed some movement coming from the other side of the arch.

"Oh um…I'll be there in a minute," Portia said as she went to investigate.

Calvin meanwhile managed to pull himself up along the cliffside. Below him the waves crashed together wildly. The wind picked up and whipped along his face. Eventually he found an opening in the rock that led to darkness.

"What's the big deal?" he remarked as he peered his head in.

"Aha!" Judie exclaimed as she appeared behind him and kicked him down the shaft.

"Waaah!" Calvin groaned as he hit the bottom and found himself stuck upside-down in a cramped positon. "Hey, there's nothing down here!"

"Oh but there is! A way for me to keep you out of my life forever!" Judie said. "Get comfy! Messing with the Nighthawk! This is what happens! Don't do it!"

Back on the beach, Portia had found the source of the movement. It was a boy with long black hair and He wore a gold suit, pants, gloves and black buckled boots.

"Oh hello," he greeted. "Lovely beach, don't you think? Much more pleasant than I was expecting Chris to drop us off at."

"I agree," Portia said. "I was just thinking of how lovely it would be too have a vacation here."

"I guess that's sort of what this is," the boy replied. "Even if it comes with the whole competition of survival aspect."

"I'm sorry, I should introduce myself," the girl said. "I'm Portia."

"Garfield-Stuart," the boy replied. "Please just call me Garfield though."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Portia said as Garfield took her by the hand.

"Look out below!" someone exclaimed before they were suddenly both crushed by a falling body.

This girl had long brown hair, a red hair band, red shirt, and blue shorts.

"Sorry to rain on your parade!" she said with an obnoxious laugh as she got up and dusted herself off. "I'm Beatrice!"

"Well uh…nice to meet you too, Beatrice," Garfield said. "May I ask what you were doing up above us?"

"It's a funny story," Beatrice said. "See I was climbing a palm tree trying to get a coconut…and then I fell on you guys."

Beatrice proceeded to unleash a loud, grating laugh, clearly enjoying her own story.

"Heh…uh yeah…I…I don't get it," Portia said.

"Well, I guess you really had to be there," Beatrice said while throwing her hands around the two of them, "so what's this I heard about a vacation? You can count me in!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

Rich was back to nervously wandering through the underground lair. He realized that he had lost Ilona in the skirmish with the zombies.

"O-oh…dear," he remarked as he shivered and looked his shoulder. "Alone again."

He turned around, but seemed to pull himself back from returning the way he had come.

"I'm sure she's fine," he assured himself, "but just in case she's not, I'd better steer clear of that entire area!"

With resolve he picked up his pace continuing away from where he had come. However, he didn't go far before he was suddenly sprung up in a net.

"Aaah! Help!" he cried desperately as he squirmed. "Someone, anyone!"

He was soon cut down and fell to the ground with a thud. He looked up to see a small boy with black hair and a brown headband with a feather sticking out of it. He wore a green vest and tan shorts.

"Well, you're not a ghoul," the boy remarked.

"Uh…no, I'm not, I'm Rich," Rich replied.

"That trap was supposed to catch me something supernatural," the boy pouted. "How hard can it be to find me some ghoul or ghost? We're in an underground temple of sorts, that's just got to be prime territory!"

"Trust me, you don't want to run into any creatures," Rich said. "I just barely escaped from a whole army of zombies and they were nasty!"

"You saw them!?" the boy exclaimed eagerly as he got in Rich's face. "That's incredible! You have to take me too them!"

"Uhh…I'm not sure that's a good idea," Rich replied nervously.

"You're right, we might frighten them off," the boy said, "Better yet, we'll bring them too us! You can be the bait!"

"The…what?" Rich asked.

"You'll be perfect," Austin said as he pulled a cord and suddenly Rich was suspended in the net again. "Just do what you were doing and wait for your inevitable death."

* * *

(Field)

Mel was marching through the field on her own by now.

"I don't need them getting in the way," she grumbled to herself. "I can handle anything that comes my way."

She spotted some movement and upon close inspection realized that a single goblin was walking along a nearby hill.

"Aha, I got you now!" she exclaimed.

She charged towards the creature and knocked it to the ground.

"You're not so tough!" she scoffed.

However she was suddenly ambushed and clubbed on the back of the head. She fell to the ground out cold. When she recovered she found herself in darkness.

"What the…? Where am I!?" she exclaimed as she got up.

She found herself enclosed with very little room, just a small square to contain her in the dark. There was a small grate that let in some light, but she could see very little out of it.

"How dare you put me in here!?" she snapped. "You let me out this instance, you hear me!"

"Just be grateful you're still alive," someone said from the corner of the room.

Mel focused her eyes to see a boy with spikey orange hair, a green shirt, and dark blue pants.

"You got captured too?" she asked.

"No, actually, they think I'm a bundle of hay," he said, "and I intend to keep it that way so shhh!"

"Why would you want to be a prisoner!?" Mel exclaimed. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard and unless you can give me a brilliant answer I will have no choice but to assume that you are some sort of crazy person!"

"What better place to hide for some espionage!?" the boy said. "I've been gathering info and they have no idea I'm here!"

"How can you gather info from these monsters?" Mel asked, "From the inside of some sort of crate no less?"

"I'll have you know that I have put together a system, measuring the pitch, length, and sound of every noise they make to translate it into rough English," the boy explained, "Also turns out that they speak rough English which helps too and made my work completely redundant. But I did catch some interesting snippets!"

"I find that 90% of the time 'interesting' is used synonymously with 'boring and pointless,'" Mel replied.

"The creatures seem to answer to a leader, someone they fear," the boy said. "And they seem to be protecting something, some sort of treasure…"

"Did they say anything about what they want with us?" Mel asked.

"First of all, as far as they know, they only have you," the boy said, "and no, I don't know, but it probably won't be good."

"Then I'm getting outta here!" Mel said as she charged at the grate. "Let me out, let me out, let me out!"

All her efforts amounted to nothing though and only left her exhausted.

"Or we could just use this tunnel I've been burrowing," the boy said as he revealed a hole in the ground beneath him.

"You know, you really should have opened the conversation with that," Mel said, "Would have saved a lot of time wasted on my life."

"I'm Eliot, by the way," the boy introduced.

"Don't care," Mel said, "Let's go!"

Outside and a small distance away, one of goblins lay unconscious, while a human figure pulled off the cloak he was wearing and threw it over themselves. They approached a small campsite infested with the goblins. Shoddy tents clumped together as the creatures patrolled the area. The figure crept along the grass and neared the settlement. Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed them from behind. The cloaked girl twirled around to deliver a punch, but she was flipped to the ground and pinned by her captor. Soon she was look up at a boy with long black hair, piercing yellow eyes wearing all black. The girl underneath her stolen cloak had wavy brown hair, a blue shirt with golden rings on it, and a khaki skirt.

"What's the big idea?" she snapped.

"Your stealth tactics require work," the boy replied. "Had I let you proceed, it likely would have not ended well for you."

"Are you sure you just don't want me getting over there?" she asked. "It's clear that something important is happening over there."

"Hardly," the boy replied. "If I were playing with that competitive attitude, I would simply allow you to walk to your demise. Instead, I seek partnership, perhaps we may be able to help each other."

"I see," the girl said as she got up. "So what sort of deal are you looking at?"

"Well, for starters I could help you get into that camp," the boy offered. "And I'm certain a girl like you has skills that I may have need of in the future. We can accomplish more together."

"Alright then, well in that case, I'm Raven," the girl introduced.

"Azazel," the boy did likewise.

* * *

(Forest)

Duke and Rudy were still walking through the thick forest together.

"So, what sorts of thing do you like?" Duke asked.

"Pain, suffering, misery," Rudy listed. "What kind of question is that?"

"Just making conversation," Duke replied with a shrug. "Why not get to know each other? It's what friends do."

"We are most certainly not friends," Rudy said.

"With not with that attitude we won't be," Duke countered.

"I tried being fakey nice when the game called for it last time," Rudy said, "but I don't even need to use people here, so don't waste your time."

"Oh sure, I'll just go spend my time much more productively exploring this endless forest," Duke replied sarcastically. "Come on, might as well make this a little more fun."

Rudy seemed ready to respond when the two saw something moving towards them.

"Any chance we're getting good news?" Duke remarked.

A large creature stomped through the bushes. The creature had similar reptilian skin to the goblins, but was much larger. It was at least a head taller than both boys and had a body that bulged with muscle. It two stubs poking out of a brown mop of hair. The creature wore no clothes but a pair of muddy brown shorts.

"Humans?" it said with ominous curiosity.

"Uh…hi?" Duke said as he forced an awkward smile.

The creature cocked its head to the side and began to spread a threatening leer; its entire body itching to bounce at any moment. The two boys were well aware that they were in danger.

"This is Ogre territory," the creature said, "Humans shouldn't be here."

"Oh…oh is that so? Well, uh…our mistake then," Duke said nervously as he began to back up. "We'll just be on our way…"

Rudy took off running and Duke quickly followed suit. The Ogre lunged after him though with terrifying speed. Duke sound was crushed under the massive weight of the creature. Its bulky hands forced him down into the muddy ground.

"You stay," the beast ordered before fixing his gaze on the fleeing Rudy.

The creature leapt from tree to tree, catching up on Rudy easily. Rudy tried to break away, but the Ogre leapt after him and managed to snag him by the ankle. He tossed him over his shoulder, then returned to Duke and did the same.

"You two are coming with me," the creature said, "My brother is going to be so proud, I've caught my own humans!"

"Lucky us," Duke remarked woozily.

The two were carried into a bog where a shack was constructed in the middle. The Ogre carried them inside and through them onto the floor. The two shot a few quick glances around and saw that there were other creatures of the same kind around them now. To the right was a smaller one with pointed ears; despite its youthful appearance, it still looked like it could pose quite a threat to the boys. On the other side brooded a tall lanky one. It wasn't as muscular as the one that had brought them in, but stood tall above him. It had shaggy hair and two menacing tusks protruding from its mouth. Most of the boys' attention was on the gargantuan creature sitting on a throne before them. It was the largest by far, and glowered at them me ferociously.

"Dragon, look!" the ogre who had brought them in exclaimed proudly. "Humans! I caught them myself!"

The Ogre called Dragon snorted with disgust.

"What are we going to do with them!?" the first asked eagerly. "Let me have them this time, please! I'll skin them and cook them myself!"

Duke and Rudy shot nervous glances at each other hearing this. The lanky Ogre spat and approached them.

"You're too weak for that, Toad," he mocked. "You wouldn't let them suffer nearly enough."

"I would too!" Toad pouted.

"Guys, guys, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Duke said nervously.

"Shut up!" the taller one snarled before delivering a kick to Duke.

"Uh, let me handle this…" Rudy said. "What my…um…companion means is, you shouldn't skin, cook, or kill us because…we um…hate humans just as much as you guys! And if you let us, we can lure some more here for you!"

Dragon snorted again, before standing up.

"Very well," he boomed before pointing a spear at Duke. " _You_ will bring us more humans, and you—" he pointed to Rudy now "—will stay with us until he returns. Newt, take him down below, Croc get ready for some hunting."

The smaller one gripped Rudy and began to drag him away.

"Okay, buddy, you got this!" Rudy said while giving thumbs up to Duke. "I'm counting on you."

"Uh…" Duke said uncertainly as his eyes slid over to the tall Ogre looming over him.

Rudy was brought down into an underground tunnel and thrown into a cell.

"Heh, couldn't have planned that out better myself," he chuckled to himself. "Mr. Nice Guy having to play the villain to help poor defenseless me. He'll crumble in no time, ha!"

"Evil monologue? Really?" the young Ogre remarked. "How lame."

"Oh shut up!" Rudy snapped.

* * *

(Mountain)

Hunter and Mona continued to trudge through the snow together.

"I think I see something," Hunter said as he squinted through the endless storm. "A village maybe."

The two kept moving until they were at the small collection of buildings.

"Finally," Hunter sighed in relief.

He quickly entered the nearest building which happened to be one inhabited by Kitty and Charlie.

"Oh look, more people. Smile people!" Kitty exclaimed as she snapped a photo of the two of them.

Hunter eagerly sat down at a seat.

"We require tea!" Mona exclaimed.

The elderly man from behind the counter grumpily trotted over and slammed a mug in front of her.

"I am detecting some mild to severe impoliteness," Mona remarked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, don't mind Old Man Patterson," Kitty remarked. "He's cold to all strangers, but he's got a heart of gold beneath it all."

"My name is Shain," he grunted, "and my daughter was kidnapped by Yetis."

"What!? Why didn't you mention this before!?" Kitty exclaimed. "This sounds like a story!"

"I mentioned it five times to you," Shain spat.

"Okay well don't blame me for having my headphones in the whole time, in my experience old people don't have anything to share but 'inspiring life stories' and lol I have enough of those as it is," Kitty replied. "So tell me about this daughter of yours!"

"Her name is Chereen," Shain said, "those savage beasts took her in the storm. She was out wandering, got lost and they stole her from me and took her to their cavern on the mountain top."

"Guys, you know what this means!?" Kitty exclaimed.

"Oh man, don't do the whole sudden questions thing, it hurts my brain to think that fast!" Charlie moaned.

"A little girl needs our help?" Mona suggested.

"That's right, it's time for an adventure! #TheAdventureBegins #HeroineHeart #SaveChereen," Kitty exclaimed. "Looks like we're going to make a team!"

"Hooray!" Charlie cheered. "Teamwork for the win!"

"Ugh, why don't you just kill me now?" Hunter groaned.

"Okay," Mona said tracing her finger along his back.

Hunter spasmed and fell to the ground. Charlie and Kitty glanced at Mona fearfully.

"Oh don't worry, I only stopped his heart for a few minutes, he'll awake with new value for his life," Mona explained.

* * *

(Beach)

Calvin squirmed in his prison, but he only ended up jabbing himself with several sharp rocks.

"Dumb brat," he grumbled to himself, "if I ever see her again—"

"Okay, you've done your time," Judie declared as she pulled him up.

"Wha?" Calvin exclaimed as he was pulled back into the sunlight and saw Judie standing before him.

"Turns out that was actually just a test…I have decided seconds ago," Judie said, "Rule #1 of the Nighthawk is always do what Nighthawk says! You did, that other girl did not, and as you will notice I have already forgotten her name because she is nothing to me now! Just kidding, Nighthawk never forgets and never forgives, setting new target to Portia Sussman!"

"Uhh…so can I go now?" Calvin asked.

"You most certainly can NOT!" Judie exclaimed. "That test wasn't for nothing, I never test without reason, do I look like a public school to you!? If I do then you need glasses, get that checked out."

"Really? Is this going anywhere?" Calvin replied dully.

"It's not just going anywhere, it's going somewhere and that somewhere is that you are going to be my next protégé, molded into my image, trained in my secrets," Judie recounted.

"Pass," Calvin said.

"There is no 'pass!'" Judie said as she shoved Calvin back into the crevice. "Your options are Nighthawk or total annihilation! Choose wisely!"

Calvin raised his hand and Judie took it up again.

"Now first let's talk about your name, your name is your everything, your meaning, your legacy, something that will inspire everything that you are!" Judie said. "Let's go with Duskowl!"

"Let's not," Calvin replied.

"We'll work on the name," Judie replied. "Your training begins now!"

The two stood awkwardly for a few seconds.

"So are you going to do something?" Calvin asked.

Suddenly Judie shoved him back into the hole.

"Rule #1: Never expect the expected!" Judie exclaimed.

"I thought rule #1 was always do as the Nighthawk says," Calvin groaned.

"Aha! That was another test! You're learning already!" Judie exclaimed.

Meanwhile on the beach Garfield, Portia, and Beatrice were walking along the beach.

"…And then I told her that if she wanted her carton of eggs back she should have tried low fat!" Beatrice recounted before laughing aggressively again.

"Heh...uh…good for you?" Garfield remarked.

"That story…didn't really make sense," Portia said before adding under her breath, "like all of them so far."

"Okay, okay, you just don't get it, see Stacy is always getting really good grades in her math class," Beatrice explained.

"Who is Stacy?" Portia asked. "You said the girl's name was Tracy."

"What? No no no, keep up, Tracy is the one who's really good at Arts and Crafts, which I've got a funny story about her too, you'll really laugh at this one!" Beatrice said.

"Uh, ladies," Garfield said, "I think we may have a problem."

He pointed to the sand where something seemed to be oozing out from under their feet. Once it had spread out along the sand the substance began to take shape, forming into a group of squid-like creatures. The creatures began to cry shrilly and thrashed their tentacles around wildly. Portia screamed as one wrapped around her.

"Let go, let go!" she cried as she slapped at it.

Garfield tried to run to help her, but was suddenly grabbed by another and dragged away. As Portia flailed with her attacker she managed to grab a sharp rock and slam it against the squid.

"I'll save the day!" Beatrice exclaimed as she picked up a coconut and threw it at Portia's head.

"Please stop trying," Portia said.

"Got it," Beatrice sighed as she stood still and allowed herself to be entangled by the slimy tendrils.

Not too far away an athletic boy with brown hair was walking towards them. He had a dark turquoise shirt and crimson shorts. As he neared he soon spotted the commotion.

"People!" the boy gasped. "People in trouble! Time to be a hero!"

The boy sprinted over to the crowd and began assaulting the squids with all his might.

"Take this, take that, you dumb squids!" he shouted as he punched, kicked, and headbutted the creatures.

His attacks seemed to be taking effect as the creatures began to turn back into goo and melt.

"That's right, and Don't! Come! Back!" he exclaimed while delivering a final blow to one.

Unfortunately this one was holding Beatrice and the forced ended up launching her into a palm tree.

"Oops, sorry!" the boy exclaimed as he helped her up. "Sometimes I'm too strong for my own good. I just try so hard and I don't recognize my own strength and end up making things worse. Story of my life back on Uber Drama Action!"

"Wow…I relate so much," Beatrice replied. "Being too good at things is a curse."

"Hi, I'm Todd!" Todd greeted.

"Hi, I'm Beatrice!" Beatrice exclaimed. "These are…um…people!"

"Hi, people!" Todd greeted while waving happily.

"Well, looks like this might not be the dream resort after all," Garfield remarked. "We probably should stick together and be careful."

* * *

(Catacombs)

Rich was cowering as he dangled in the net.

"That's it, they feed on fear!" Austin exclaimed from behind a pillar. "Just think about how they're going to tear you apart when they get their hands on you!"

Rich turned pale and continued to claw at the net frantically.

"Yes, I can hear them coming!" Austin exclaimed eagerly. "Come to me, my undead army!"

True enough, the horde of corpses began to meander out of the shadows and towards Rich.

"No, no, go away!" Rich sobbed as he tried to climb the net and get himself as high off the ground as possible.

The zombies clamored around him and began to grabbed at the net. Rich kicked at their hands frantically. Suddenly a cage dropped down on one of them.

"Yes!" Austin cheered.

He then pulled a cord. Rich was rapidly lifted into the air and then pulled over to join Austin in his hiding spot. The group of zombies, confused, began to wander off elsewhere, leaving the one who was caged.

"I'm…alive!" Rich sighed in relief.

"Of course you are," Austin said as he gripped him by the shoulders. "You didn't really think I'd let them get you, did you? Live bait is so much more precious when it's…well, live!"

"So…what are you going to do with this guy?" Rich asked as he pointed to the zombie.

"For now, let's just take a sample to study," Austin said as he broke off one of the creature's fingers.

"That's it? You put me in danger for a finger!?" Rich exclaimed.

"I did!" Austin replied. "I can't wait to see what secrets are hidden within this one specimen!"

Meanwhile, Missy and Ilona had emerged from their hiding spot and were exploring the temple again.

"I've got a whole list of things we're going to do together, best friend!" Missy exclaimed. "First off, we'll need to get to our friendship fort!"

"Oh…where's that?" Ilona asked.

Missy halted and gasped, appalled.

"You don't even know where our own friendship fort is!?" she sobbed. "What kind of friend are you!?"

"Uh…there, there, I didn't mean it like that," Ilona said while Missy huddled up and cried.

"Well, that's because it doesn't exist, we still need to find one!" Missy exclaimed. "What good are friends without a fort for which we can exclude people from?!"

The two heard something approaching rapidly. Missy quickly shielded herself behind Ilona. IIona assumed a defensive stance. A small boy quickly sprinted past the two of them, before twisting around and running back to meet them.

"Hihihi!" he exclaimed while waving his hands wildly.

He wore a backwards red baseball cap over his red-brown hair. He had a green vest over an orange shirt and blue shorts.

"I'm Teddy!" he exclaimed while playing with Missy's antennae. "Who are you? What does this do? Is it magic? Are you magic? Can you do magic? Hocus pocus abracadra what number am I think of is this your card okay I'm bored where are we!?"

"Um…hi?" Ilona said.

"Hihihi!" Teddy exclaimed while shaking her hand. "I'm Teddy!"

"Uh, yes, you said that," Ilona said. "I'm Ilona and this is Missy."

"Hi Ilona, hi Missy, where are we!?" Teddy exclaimed while running around the hall, checking every nook and cranny. "Are we underground? Are we in a tomb? Where does this lead? How do we get out? Are we stuck in here forever and ever and ever and ever and then ever some more!? What's for dinner!?"

Missy grabbed him and stopped him from moving.

"It's polite to look at people when you're talking to them," she huffed.

"Hiiii!" Teddy said while staring directly into her eyes.

"Guys, shh…what's that?" Ilona said as she heard a rumbling.

Suddenly the walls began to shatter open. More zombies emerged hungrily stretching out their hands after the three humans.

"Not this again," Ilona groaned.

She quickly got into battle stance and began to fend off the zombies.

"Cool cool cool!" Teddy exclaimed as he began weaving between the zombies, taking out their legs, or kicking them from behind.

Missy tossed glitter at the oncomers, but it did little to subdue them. Many of them came for her and she had to pull back. However, she tripped over an uneven stone and fell to the ground. A zombie came right for her. Suddenly someone else leapt in front of her. This girl had wavy blonde hair, a light blue shirt, and blue pants.

"I'm coming in like a full on rain storm," she said while delivering a kick to the zombie, "and you're a house of cards."

She tore off the leg and clutched it like a weapon, swinging it at any of the approaching zombies.

"I'm the kind of reckless that should send you running," she continued while knocking back any that got close to her. "But I kinda know that you won't get far."

The group was able to clear out enough room for the four of them to escape.

"Woo," the new girl exclaimed. "I'm totally working this into my next music video."

"And just who do you think you are!?" Missy exclaimed. "Barging into our bonding experience like that!?"

"How rude of me," the girl said, "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Haylor Dash."

(To Be Continued Probably…)


	3. Chapter 3

(Field)

Jacquie, Caleb, and Gillian all walked along the field together, the old woman now toting a large pack.

"How much farther?" Jacquie asked.

"Not much," Gillian said, "If you look into the horizon you can even see the two in the distance. We may be able to make it there by nightfall."

"Let's hope so," Caleb said. "I can't imagine this place is very pleasant after dark."

"I just need something to eat and a place to rest my legs," Jacquie sighed.

The three kept moving. As they came over another hill, though, they were suddenly attacked by a small group of goblins.

"Ugh, these guys again?" Jacquie groaned.

The creatures savagely charged at the trio. Jacquie drew her blade and began to slash at the attackers. Gillian tried to back away but stumbled and fell to the ground. Caleb quickly rushed to help her up.

"I can't keep all these guys back," Jacquie said uncertainly as the swarm kept coming at her.

"Here, take this," Gillian said as she pulled out a staff from her pack and handed it to Caleb. "It belonged to one of my companions. Maybe you could still get some use out of it."

Caleb gripped it and began to spin it around, knocking back the oncoming goblins.

"Oh you're deciding to be useful?" Jacquie said as she backed up to join Caleb, while constantly keeping the creatures at bay with her sword.

The horde seemed to be thinning out, but more were charging in from the distance.

"Oh come on, give me a break," Jacquie groaned.

This new wave included goblins that were riding animals and others that were wielding bows. Gillian had gotten up by now.

"I think we need to move," she said, "We can't just stay here."

The three made their way in a slightly altered direction, trying to evade the oncoming attack while still heading towards their destination. The goblins were gaining on them fast though. Jacquie swung her blade at the nearest ones. Caleb used his staff to knock two of them off of their steeds. A barrage of arrows was fired from the goblins bringing up the rear.

"Look out!" Jacquie exclaimed as she pulled Gillian out of the line of fire.

Caleb charged towards the group aggressively, using his staff to knock back the goblins from all directions. He was attacked from all sides, but he kept charging forward, swinging his weapon around. Eventually he was able to thin out the numbers, the final few goblins decided to retreat. Caleb was left exhausted though.

"Well…at least they're gone for now," he sighed. "We'd better hurry if we want—"

He turned and saw Jacquie had taken an arrow into her shoulder though. Gillian was tending over her with concern.

"Jacquie?" Caleb gasped.

She let out a weak groan.

"She's going to need some help and fast," Gillian said.

* * *

(Forest)

While Montana frolicked with the monkeys playfully, Keith was keeping to himself on the side. He curiously slid along the branches, exploring the treetop world. Peering down, he could only see leaves and crisscrossing branches, no sign of the ground. He kept moving along the tree, glancing around the distance seeing if he could spot anything. His ears perked up as he heard a small noise. He carefully sidled over to investigate. The sound was going from a smaller pocket under a shelter of leaves. He saw a larger monkey lying in a groove against the tree. It seemed to be in pain and was slowly letting out a low coo.

"What's that!?" Montana suddenly exclaimed from behind Keith.

"I think she's sick," Keith remarked.

"That's terrible!" Montana gasped. "The poor monkey can't play with her friends!"

"It's an opportunity," Keith said, "maybe if we find a cure we'll be completing one of the goals of this land."

"You're right, we need to save this monkey, we need to be heroes, right!" Montana exclaimed.

"Yeah, sure, whatever gets you motivated," Keith said. "Now come on, we've probably got to head back into the forest and find something for this."

* * *

(Mountain)

BonBon was hunched over scraping a pair of rocks together.

"Come on, give me fire!" she exclaimed. "Let there be FIRE!"

She tossed the stones down in frustration as she found her efforts fruitless. She turned around to see Neil returning from the darkness.

"So, what'd you find for dinner!?" she asked.

"Nothing," Neil scoffed. "There's nothing alive in this place."

He held out his hands to show some moss, stringy roots, and small fungus.

"This is the best I could find," he said.

"Well, at least I managed to make us a roaring fire!" BonBon exclaimed.

She turned around to see that there was in fact a roaring fire going.

"Holy crap, fire!" she gasped.

"Uh yeah, I heard you the first time," Neil said.

"Yes, that's right, I did this," BonBon exclaimed as she present the fire. "I am the best."

Up on the surface, Hunter, Mona, Kitty, and Charlie were standing in the middle of the village.

"Alright, if we're going to go on this rescue mission we're going to need supplies," Kitty said. "Good man, Shain, we're going to need weapons, mountain gear, food, and if you've got any spare mountain goats that'd be greatly appreciated."

"Our town doesn't have much," Shain said. "We were ravaged by the endless storms. I can get gather you some scraps of food, and if you can find anything that you think would be useful, take it."

"Alright team, let's look around for any starter class weapons," Kitty said, "probably in underground passages or forgotten family heirlooms."

"I don't get it," Charlie said.

"Just try to find something we can use to fight," Kitty said.

The group spread out around the town. After some time scrounging and searching they reconvened in the center.

"Okay, how'd we do, everyone!?" Kitty asked. "I managed to barter this sword off the blacksmith. It's dull and worn, but it will do for now."

"I found this," Hunter said as he held up a pickaxe.

"We're going mining?" Charlie asked.

"No, you fool, but it can be used just fine as a weapon," Hunter said.

"Oh," Charlie said sadly, "but we could go mining now at least…if we wanted."

"What did you find, Charlie?" Kitty asked.

Charlie held up a stick.

"I can uh…hit things with it?" Charlie said.

"You certainly can," Kitty said.

"I found this!" Mona exclaimed as she held up a kettle.

"That's…a kettle?" Hunter asked.

"Indeed," Mona replied.

"We were supposed to find useful things," Hunter pointed out.

"Tea is very important," Mona replied.

"Right," Hunter said before pulling Kitty aside. "Okay, those two are clearly doomed, let's keep them close and use them when we need some fodder, we can guarantee ourselves through this part."

* * *

(Beach)

Calvin was balancing on a pinnacle at the top of a ridge of rocks.

"Why am I doing this again?" Calvin asked.

"Silence!" Judie snapped. "No questions, questions are for those who don't know, and Nighthawk knows all. Stop displaying your complete and utter ignorance with your stupid questions!"

"Okay, but—" Calvin tried to say.

"Everything I do has a purpose, why do something without purpose, that's a waste of time and Nighthawk wastes no time, you know how much time it takes to be hit with a bullet? Less than a second, and that could be one nanosecond you wasted asking pointless questions!" Judie went on.

"That doesn't even make—" Calvin tried again.

"I will however enlighten your ignorance," Judie continued. "You are training, transforming your body from a useless mass to a weapon! You must be in perfect balance, in perfect tune with your surroundings, be ready to move like a flowing river at the slightest notice. Now clear your mind and let your sense take over."

Calvin closed his eyes. Suddenly Judie began pelting him with stones, causing him to stumble off his perch and have to cling on for his life.

"What was that for!?" Calvin snapped.

"In the heat of the battle you don't get peace and quiet to find your center, you've got to be ready for distraction left, right and center!" Judie barked. "Now get up and let's keep going!"

"You're crazy," Calvin replied.

"Like a fox!" Judie retorted.

Meanwhile, down below, Beatrice, Garfield, Todd, and Portia were continuing to walk along the beach. Garfield was nervously keeping his eyes on the sand.

"Do you think we'll see those things again?" he asked. "We'd better be careful and ready."

"Don't worry, I'll give them a clobbering!" Todd exclaimed before hearing his stomach rumble. "Though I really could use a bite to eat."

"We can try some fishing," Portia suggested. "Like I was saying before, I did some back on my season, we can figure it out."

"Ooh, sounds like fun!" Beatrice exclaimed. "I never had to get my own food back on Refresh. This will be an adventure for me!"

The group of four began to gather up some sticks they could fine around the beach and shaped them into spears. They then began to wait through the water, searching for any fish they could capture. Garfield prepared to skewer one, only to have it scared away by Beatrice flopping awkwardly towards them.

"I got it, I got it!" she exclaimed while slamming her spear down into the water at random causing ripples to fill the area. "Oh, I guess I don't got it. This is fun!"

Todd spotted a school of fish and carefully prepared to grab one, however, he ended up colliding with Beatrice.

"Whoops I'd better watch where I'm going!" she laughed as the both of them fill into the ocean.

"Um, Beatrice, dear," Portia said, "maybe you'd be more effective, over there."

"Sure thing!" Beatrice exclaimed as she pranced deeper into the water.

As the group turned around to continue hunting, Beatrice suddenly disappeared, sucked under the water and dragged downward.

"Uh…where did she go?" Garfield asked as he looked over to see Beatrice completely missing.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Austin was deeply entranced in the finger that he had collected from the zombie previously. Rich walked with him, though was still nervously fidgeting and twitching.

"Fascinating, very fascinating," Austin said to himself while he twirling his specimen around.

"Are you actually getting anything from that?" Rich asked. "It's just a finger."

"Oh, but it's so much more!" Austin exclaimed. "To the trained eye, that is, and I've spent my whole life training!"

"Oh…I see." Rich replied uncertainly.

"See these rings here?" Austin said as he held the finger in a disgusted Rich's face.

"Not re—" Rich began.

"This means that these aren't sentient zombies," Austin continued, "they were brought back to life and controlled by a greater force. Now I know what you're thinking!"

"I'm pretty sure you may be off," Rich replied.

"What kind of entity are we talking about here," Austin continued without missing a beat. "The way the rings spiral and glow, I'm fairly confident that this is none other than a real life demon. How cool is that!? My own demon to meet!"

"Yeah, uh…terrific," Rich said as he started to back up.

"Of course, if they're forced to using husks of corpses to do their bidding, they must be trapped within these walls," Austin said. "We're likely going to need a blood sacrifice to free them."

"Oh…well…I think I'm just gonna…head out," Rich said as he backed up and turned into a run in the opposite direction.

"You're not going anywhere," Austin said as he reached into his vest.

He pulled out a bola and tossed it after Rich. The weapon wrapped around the boy's legs causing him to trip and fall to the ground. Austin pounced on top of him.

"I wouldn't let my sacrifice get away that easy," Austin taunted his prisoner.

* * *

(Field)

The band of goblins milled about their camp. They didn't notice a pair rolling between them. The duo moved through the shadows sliding from place to place only ever visible during the brief periods when the goblins weren't looking. Eventually the two stopped and crouched behind a small stack of barrels where none of the goblins were patrolling.

"Well…I could have done that," Raven said, having been pulled along by Azazel.

"Could you really?" Azazel inquired.

"…Maybe, I don't know, it's not important!" Raven said in a hushed down. "The point is we're here now."

"And now what?" Azazel asked.

"Hm…look, that tent there," Raven said while pointing. "It's right in the center, if there's something we need, it's got to be in there."

"There's guards there," Azazel said. "We're going to have deal with them carefully."

The two stealthily made their way down to the large tent. Raven innocently tapped on the shoulder of one of the guards. The goblin turn to her and let out a shocked grunt before Azazel used his legs to grab the goblin by the neck and drag him to the shadows. The other guard tilted its head and carefully followed. He saw nothing when he turned the corner, but Azazel dropped down from behind him and delivered a blow to this back, causing him to collapse unconscious.

"Well, that wasn't too hard," Raven remarked as she emerged from behind a crate.

"Let us see what prize awaits us," Azazel said.

The two entered the tent. They found a table set up in the center with a map sprawled out over it.

"Hm…" Raven said as she picked up the map. "Well they're definitely searching for something. The question is: What?"

"Perhaps it would be best to escape from enemy territory and then think more about it," Azazel said.

"Agreed," Raven replied.

"Let us try to be as clandestine as possible," Azazel said. "We might be able to avoid an altercation altogether."

Not too far way, Mel and Eliot were emerging from a tunnel in the middle of the camp. Eliot quickly realized where they were and pulled Mel behind a tent.

"Okay, okay, we need a plan!" Eliot said.

"I've got a plan for you," Mel said as she grabbed a plank of wood and charged for a goblin. "Hey dummy, remember me!?"

"Ugh, nonnono! This is not a good plan! Dare I say, this is a BAD plan!" Eliot cried.

Mel managed to take down the goblin but several more had caught the commotion and began to rally around them.

"Oh no, oh dear," Eliot stammered as several goblins began to surround him as well. "I uh…I must warn you I am…ahem…skilled in uh…the art of comedic clumsiness to my advantage!"

Eliot ducked his hit just in time to dodge a club when swung on to hit a goblin behind him and knock it out.

"See, told you," Eliot said.

The guards now in a frenzy soon ran past Raven and Azazel as well. Azazel managed to slink away into the darkness, but a goblin grabbed Raven by her leg and dragged her out before she could escape.

"Looks like the time for stealth is over," Azazel said as he emerged again, delivering a flying kick to Raven's captor.

"It was too good to last," Raven said as she pried a spear out of the goblin's hands and used it against him.

As the two progressed the soon came across Mel and Eliot in the center of their struggle.

"Well, now we know what caused the guards to suddenly panic," Raven said.

Mel was swinging in all directions now. Some goblins seemed nervous to approach her, but others were ganging up on her and she was soon to be outnumbered. Raven came in with her spear and began knocking the goblins back.

"Umm, I didn't ask for any help!" Mel snapped.

"Yeah, well I didn't ask for you to ruin my escape so I guess we're both unhappy now," Raven remarked.

"This way!" Azazel called. "We can all get out of here!"

The group tried to force their way through the path where the numbers were thinning out. As Eliot ran to follow them, a large hand grabbed him from behind. He turned around to see a massive goblin, at least twice the size of all the rest. It wore thick armor, including a spiked helmet, and wielded a large mace.

"Aaaeeee!" Eliot cried as he flailed wildly.

He ended up accidentally kicking the creature in the nose. The goblin winced and let him go. As Eliot dropped to the ground, he saw before him a horn sticking out of the creature's belt. He grabbed the item and then fled to join the others as they made their escape. Mel and Raven let the charge, knocking aside any goblins that came near them. Eventually they were back out in the field and seemingly had lost the goblins.

"Well…that was fun," Raven remarked.

"Bah, we should have stayed and finished the job," Mel scoffed. "I could have handled them."

"Oh really? Is that what you were doing back there? Handling them?" Raven asked.

"Yes, and I was doing just fine until you showed up," Mel retorted. "We accomplished nothing!"

"Well…I did manage to grab this," Eliot said as he revealed the horn. "Something told me it was important."

"What is it?" Azazel said as he tried to take it.

"Don't touch it!" Eliot exclaimed as he held it up above his head. "It could be cursed, infected, or filled with goblin larvae! Only someone with a very careful technique should use this. So if you don't mind…"

Eliot cautiously and tentatively blew into the horn and let out a low note. At first nothing seems to happen.

"Upon conclusion, I have deduced that this is just an ordinary horn," Eliot said.

However then wind began to pick up. Faster and faster it began to swirl around Eliot. The ground began to twist as well right beneath his feet.

"Whoa..whoa…this is not good," Eliot said frantically.

The ground beneath him began to turn into a swirling vortex pulling him deeper and deeper into the earth.

"Help…help!" Eliot cried before he was completely submerged.

Then the wind stopped and he was gone.

"Congratulations, Eliot!" Chris's voice announced. "You have completed the task of finding the Horn of the Wild. You have earned your spot in the next round."

"What? WHAT!?" Mel snapped. "All we had to do was blow a stupid horn? I could have done that!"

"But you were too busy absolutely decimating that army," Raven remarked. "What a shame."

* * *

(Swamp)

Duke walked through the swamp with Crock, the tall lanky ogre, following closely behind.

"Don't even think of trying anything," the ogre hissed. "There's nothing I'd love more than to just snap you in my jaws, human."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Duke replied with false friendliness.

The two trudged through the mud and wandered aimlessly through the swamp.

"You said you could find others," Crock growled impatiently. "Well? Where are they!?"

"I'll find them, I'll find them," Duke assured. "Look, I think I see something moving over there."

Just ahead, Roquette and Annie were walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh man, I just realized how hungry I am," Annie remarked. "We've got to find some food."

"This looks edible," Roquette said as she pulled a round purple fruit out of a tree.

"You sure?" Annie asked. "What if it's poisonous?"

"Well, we can't example test every piece of fruit we find," Roquette said, "We're just going to have to risk it if we don't want to starve out here."

Roquette took a bite.

"Hm, sweet, doesn't seem like anything deadly to me," Roquette said.

She tossed another one back at Annie. Through the bushes, Duke and Crock watched the two of them walk.

"See? I told you I'd find some," Duke said, "So now I'll just—"

"You will lure them over there," Crock said while pointing at a small clearing. "I've got something special in store for them."

"Er…right," Duke said.

Crock then shoved Duke out towards the girls. Roquette quickly raised her bow and pointed it at Duke.

"Whoa, whoa," Duke said while holding up his hands. "No need to do anything hasty."

"Alright, who are you and what do you want?" Roquette asked.

"Also hi!" Annie said with a smile and a wave. "This is Roquette and I'm Annie!"

"Uh, I'm Duke," Duke replied. "Nice to meet you. Anyways, I uh…think I found one of those goals we need to complete. But I can't do it alone. I'm glad I found you, do you think you'd be willing to work with me here?"

"Hm," Roquette said, "well—"

"Yes!" Annie exclaimed.

"Well I guess that's that then," Roquette said. "What's this big thing you found?"

"Here, follow me, I'll show you," Duke said.

Duke began to guide them towards the clearing where Crock had directed.

"Go ahead," Duke said, "You'll see what I mean."

The two girls walked into the middle of the clearing.

"I don't see anything," Roquette replied.

The ground then began to shake, then open up beneath them. Roquette was quick to react.

"Move!" she ordered as she began to run towards the edge.

Annie ran back the way they had come. The entire section revealed to be a giant carnivorous flower, ready to drag the girls down. Roquette made it to safety. Annie was gripped by a flailing vine tendril that emerged from the center. Before she was dragged down though she latched on to Duke. Then the two were pulled into the abyss and sucked down into the earth. The ground then reformed and it was as if nothing had changed, except there were two less people around.

* * *

(Mountain)

Hunter, Kitty, Mona, and Charlie trudged through the snow. The wind had picked up and snow was blowing harshly over them. Hunter held up his hand and grunted.

"I can't see anything like this," he said through clenched teeth.

"Okay, let's take baby steps everyone," Kitty said. "Don't want us stumbling over any cliffs. But if we do at least it will be Hunter who falls."

"Lucky me," Hunter replied.

As the group continued on, Mona drifted behind and eventually disappeared into the snow.

"Uh guys…I think we may have lost someone," Charlie remarked.

"Not really a loss in my mind," Hunter replied dryly.

Charlie walked back a few steps to find Mona making snow angels in the ground.

"Uh…Mona?" he asked.

"This is really quite liberating," Mona said. "I feel completely refreshed. You should try it sometime."

"Oh okay," Charlie said. "How about next Tuesday?"

"Sounds like a date to me!" Mona replied.

"Move it or lose it, you two!" Hunter ordered.

"Lose what?" Charlie asked.

"I believe he's using an idiomatic expression to request that we catch up," Mona explained.

"Hey, who you calling an idiot!?" Charlie replied.

"No one, who are you inferring is an idiot?" Mona replied.

"Uh…me?" Charlie said in confusion.

"I'm very sorry to hear that then," Mona sighed as she patted his hand.

The two moved through the snow again, catching up with Kitty and Hunter. The two up front had arrived at another rock wall.

"Looks like we're going up!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Great, more climbing," Hunter groaned. "How do we know this girl is still alive even? What if this is just all for nothing?"

"Oh not at all," Kitty replied. "Using my handheld, I've combined and cross-referenced all that I can find on Yeti, followed by drawing back sources to find the arrange facts but accuracy. One clear fact is that Yetis love to hoard things, and this includes people."

"Wow, that phone is like magic," Charlie remarked.

"Pretty sure it's borderline cheating," Hunter said.

"I try," Kitty said. "Now let's go!"

The group of four began scaling the icy wall. It was a slow process with them pausing or slipping various times. Charlie lost his balanced and Kitty grabbed him only to be pulled down by his weight. She grabbed Hunter's leg and Hunter had to cling to the wall and bear both of their weight. But eventually they reached another ledge and were able to catch their breath.

"Alright, guys, that was a good start," Kitty said, "We just have a whole mountain to go."

She pointed up at the still looming peak.

"Ugggh," Charlie groaned as he flopped into the snow.

"It's not that—" Hunter began before a massive paw burst out of the rock and clutched his body.

The paw and arm was covered in white fur. The rock continued to crumble away to reveal a gargantuan apelike creature absolutely covered in shaggy fur. It bellowed angrily as it held up Hunter.

"Uh….guys?" Hunter squeaked nervously.

"Put him down!" Charlie exclaimed as he swung his stick against the creature's foot.

The stick snapped without causing any damage.

"Oh," Charlie said before the creature kicked him away.

"This thing is way too big for our weapons to do any good," Kitty said frantically as she rolled out of the way from getting stomped on.

Hunter just blubbered helplessly as the creature swung him around yet never released its grip.

"I do believe you could use some tea to calm your nerves," Mona said as she used her kettle to pour team onto the creature's toe.

The beast let out a roar in pain and loosened its grip on Hunter. The boy rolled down the arm and found himself looking up at the creature's face.

"Hunter, go for the eyes!" Kitty called. "If I know my gaming tactics, this thing has to have SOME weakspot!"

"You had better be right about this," Hunter said as he swung his pickaxe at the beast's eye.

He delivered a direct hit. The creature led out a pained roar and stumbled backwards…right over the edge. It lost its footing and began to plummet. Hunter desperately jumped off with nowhere to go. Both Kitty and Mona managed to grab one of his arms though and pull him up to safety.

"That…was…" Hunter moaned.

"Incredible!?" Kitty finished.

"Terrifying," Hunter corrected.

"Um, guys?" Mona said sadly.

The two turned and saw her tending to Charlie. As they got closer they realized that he had been impaled by a sharp rock straight through his stomach.

"Oh my god!" Kitty cried as she ran to his side. "Charlie!"

"Uh…ow?" Charlie said weakly.

"We…we have to get him back to town!" Kitty exclaimed frantically.

"It's too late," Hunter said grimly. "Look at him…he's not going to recover from that!"

"We have to try!" Kitty cried.

"No," Charlie said, "It's…okay. Rescue that girl…I'll be…fine."

Charlie gave a weak smile.

"Good luck," he said.

Then he closed his eyes and in a puff of smoke disappeared.

"Charlie has met his death," Chris announced. "He will automatically be removed in the game. Congratulation on being our first victim, and 30th placer."

* * *

(Beach)

Beatrice was sucked down deeper and deeper into the ocean until it was only darkness around her. However, then she noticed something else…a light. Beatrice thought it might become clearer as it neared, yet that's all it was. A light blue shapeless light moving around her. It seemed to flow with the water, filling space and fading again as it moved.

"Hello, Beatrice," she heard an icy voice say from within her head. "My name is Nereisa, and you are going to help me with something. You are just what I need."

Beatrice opened her mouth but only coughed bubbles out in the water. The light got closer and closer growing brighter and brighter, totally engulfing her.

Up at the surface, the others continued to search for her.

"I couldn't see her!" Todd cried as he surfaced. "She's just gone!"

"How does that even happen?" Portia asked.

Suddenly Beatrice shot back up through the water and landed on the sand. The three others ran to her side.

"Bea, are you okay?" Garfield asked. "What happened?"

Beatrice coughed up a puddle of water before laughing.

"Of course I'm just fine," she said. "Just being same old clumsy me!"

"Oh…well that's a relief to hear," Garfield said.

"And we did manage to catch some fish," Portia said. "We can get a fire started and actually have something to eat."

"Sounds super duper!" Beatrice exclaimed.

As the other went off to work on cooking the fire, Beatrice's eyes briefly glowed light blue. Todd gathered wood while Garfield worked on setting up a fire and Portia prepared the fishes.

"Hey guys," Todd said as he pointed out to the ocean. "What's that?"

There was a small silhouette moving along the water.

"Is that…a ship?" Portia asked.

"Well, things might be getting interesting then," Garfield said. "Wonder what it could bring."

The ship approached them at a fast pace. However, Garfield make a striking note.

"Guys…is that a skull and cross bones?" he said. "I think we may be dealing with—"

"Pirates!" Todd finished.

"Aye, Pirates!" announced a man on the edge of the ship as it neared the coast.

The large man was both tall and broad. He wore a big black hat and purple button jacket. He had a hook for a hand and peg for a leg.

"I be Captain Crazybeard the most feared scourge of the seas!" the captain announced. "And ye landlubbers are in trouble now!"

"Um, excuse me, uh, Captain Crazybeard," Portia said, "Sorry dumb question but…you don't seem to have a beard?"

"That's because it was too crazy for _some_ people to handle!" the captain announced. "Now prepare to be blown to smithereens! Ahaahaha!"

The ship dropped an array of cannons and began to fire at the coast. The group scattered and dodged the oncoming cannonballs. However they hit the rock behind them and caused a shower of boulders. Todd quickly grabbed Garfield and pulled him out of the way just in time from being crushed. Portia rolled along the sand, a rock coming within seconds of landing on her. Pirates were now leaping off the ship and waiting through the water towards the coast.

"Bring me those thar lovely lassies!" Captain Crazybeard announced.

The pirates swarmed around Portia and Beatrice.

"Get your hands off of me!" Portia cried as she slapped at them but she was dragged into the water helplessly.

Todd and Garfield tried to run to help her, but had to avoid another landslide of rocks, costing them precious time. As the other pirates surrounded Beatrice her eyes glowed blue again and she grabbed one by the throat.

"I wouldn't if I were you," she said in the icy voice.

"Uh, just the one's good, Captain!" the pirate said before the rest ran back to the ship.

Portia was brought up to the deck and tied up, before the ship took off.

"Hahahaha!" Captain Crazybeard laughed. "Victory is mine…as always! I'm so crazy I love it!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

Ilona, Missy, Haylor, and Teddy sat along a set of crumbled stones in a hall.

"Isn't this just the best guys!?" Missy exclaimed. "Four of us best friends out on an adventure together! We're going to be inseparable by the end of this!"

"Yahoo!" Teddy cheered.

"Hey, I just had the best idea ever!" Missy exclaimed. "Why don't we all go around and talk about ourselves so we become even better friends than we already were!"

"Sure," Haylor offered. "I'm a Country-Pop singer with several national hits to my name, but I felt like trying something a bit different. I was on Uber Drama Mountain of Madness and placed third, but—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're already successful AND you already had a high placement on your original game?" Missy said. "Doesn't that seem a bit selfish to you?"

Haylor shrugged and said, "I was asked if I wanted to come back for another season and of course I said hell yeah."

"Yeah okay sure but you seemed pretty eager to tell us all about your success stories," Missy said. "Are you sure you're not just trying to belittle us? You think you're better than us don't you? It's people like you that cause esteem issues in kids today! We are not inadequate no matter what you think about us!"

"Well, you're the one who asked—" Haylor tried to defend.

"You know what? I didn't even make the merge in my original season!" Missy snapped. "Do you think I WANT to hear about your 'amazing domination of the game?' If you had any dose of sensitivity in your soul you'd maybe see the problem there, but of course you don't, you think being rich and famous makes you above any form of decency!"

"Okay, let's not overreact about anything," Ilona said.

"No, Ilona, be quiet!" Missy snapped. "I am not overreacting, this notion that we're not allowed to stand up for ourselves is just perpetuating the constant suffering that goes unchecked day after day! Well it stops here with me!"

"Uh, ladies…" Teddy said, "There's a…thing…"

He pointed frantically at a horde of zombies congregating behind them.

"Time to run," Ilona suggested.

The group quickly sprinted away from the oncoming attackers. However, Missy tripped over a loose brick and fell to the ground. The group of zombies clustered around her. She was just pulling herself up when they lunged at her. Haylor ran back to her, kicking back the one that was coming for her. There were too many for her to take though. One grabbed her legs, others came up from either side of her. Haylor pried her leg free and delivered an elbow to the one on her right. She wasn't quick enough to break away from the one on her left though and received a nasty bite to her shoulder. She shrieked in pain. Teddy quickly somersaulted through the air and landed on the creature's back.

"Let go, letgoletgoletgo!" Teddy exclaimed as he twisted the creature's head right off its neck.

Ilona came in and delivered several quick moves to the nearest zombies. She grabbed Haylor and helped carry her away. Missy and Teddy followed behind and the group was able to lose the army by taking another turn and holding quietly.

"That doesn't look good at all!" Teddy said at the gash in Haylor's shoulder. "Nope, not one bit, not a teeny tiny wincy bit! It's bad even! Yep, that's really, bad, real, really, actually bad!"

"It's…fine," Haylor winced in clear pain.

"It's definitely not fine," Ilona said. "We need to do something about this. Cover it up at the very least before you lose more blood."

Ilona began to tear off her clothes to make a bandage.

"You know what, she said she's fine, let's not waste time on this when she's clearly fine, let's just move on!" Missy said.

Ilona didn't reply though and continued to work on Haylor.

"Are you even listening to me!?" Missy snapped. "That is so rude! I am your friend, I am talking to you and you're ignoring me! You can't do that!"

"Missy, I need to focus here, Haylor needs help," Ilona said.

"What about me!? I need help! What makes her so important!?" Missy cried. "Why are you choosing her over me!? Ilona, I thought you were my friend!"

Missy ran off crying into the darkness.

"Ugh, she's gonna get herself killed," Ilona groaned.

Ilona rested Haylor against the wall.

"Look after her," she told Teddy. "I'll go stop Missy from doing something stupid."

Ilona followed the direction that Missy had gone in. The fairy girl had disappeared quickly into the darkness. As Ilona tried to find her she came to what seemed like a bridge across a large chasm. She saw a figure in the shadows and tentatively approached it.

"Missy?" she called.

"Oh, hi!" Missy said as she turned around with a bright smile.

"Are you alright?" Ilona asked.

"Better than ever!" Missy exclaimed as she skipped towards her. "I've cleared my head and realized my mistake."

"Oh, good to know," Ilona replied.

"Yep, I should have known better than to have thought you would ever be friend," Missy said in the same cheery tone. "So goodbye!"

With that Missy shoved Ilona over the edge. Ilona just let out a sharp gasp as she plummeted down into the inky darkness.

(To Be Continued…)


	4. Chapter 4

(Forest)

Roquette backed up in shock. She had just witnessed the giant carnivorous flower swallow up Annie and Duke…and then the ground returned to normal, except the two of them were gone.

"What…what the hell just happened?" she stammered to herself.

She then tilted her head to movement coming from the bushes. Suddenly the tall lanky crimson ogre lunged out of hiding towards her.

"Stupid human!" he roared. "Why did you have to ruin that!?"

Roquette barely had any time to react before he came charging at her furiously. The girl tried to dive out of the way, but Crock's reach was too broad for her to escape. His long arm clutched around her. Roquette squirmed and struggled, but to no avail. The ogre then angrily tossed her through the woods. She hit a tree with powerful force.

"Ugggh," she groaned in pain as her entire body began to throb.

"You're not done yet!" Crock growled as he came sprawling towards her.

Roquette clenched her teeth as she painfully pulled herself up. Crock was upon her fast though and pinned her down with his massive hand. Roquette had had time to draw and arrow from her quiver though which she thrust into his palm. The ogre cried out and recoiled. Roquette took the chance to take off.

"You can't escape me!" the ogre sneered angrily.

Not too far away, Montana and Keith were traversing through the trees.

"So how exactly do we know what we're looking for?" Keith asked as they slid along the branches.

"Oh trust me, I'll know, right!" Montana said. "See, back in Australia, right, you have to know the Flora…or else it could kill you, right!"

Montana shook Keith by the shoulders for emphasis.

"Okay, I'll trust your judgment on that," Keith said.

"Like it's not this," Montana said while pointing at a flower. "Or this…or that…or this one…or even that…This on here! Is not it…now you might think this one might be it…but it's not actually. Here we have an interesting case…but not really because it's not what we need."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Keith said. "Why don't you just focus on pointing on when you _do_ see it?"

"Roger that!" Montana exclaimed.

It didn't take long though before Montana spoke up again.

"Ooh there it is, that's got to be it, right, I just know it!" she squealed with excitant.

She pointed to a teardrop shaped orange fruit floating in a stream of golden light.

"Somehow, I feel like you didn't have to be a botanist to come to that conclusion," Keith remarked.

The two walked up to grab the fruit, but just when they were in reach the ground shook. The tree that stood behind the fruit burst to life, its branches becoming hands that it used to grab Keith and Montana.

"SURPRISE BITCHES!" the tree yelled. "DIDN'T EXPECT THAT DID YOU, THAT'S RIGHT I'M A FREAKING WALKING, TALKING TREE! NO ONE EVER EXPECTS THE TREE!"

Keith squirmed and wriggled until he was able to squeeze out of the branches.

"HEY, NO ONE ESCAPES FROM THE TREE!" the tree shouted.

The tree threw Montana at Keith, as she hurled through the air, though, she managed to grab the fruit. Then the two collided and slid through the dirt.

"NOW I, THE TREE, AM GOING TO FREAKING OBLITERATE YOU!" the tree shouted. "I WILL CRUSH YOU TO MULCH AND THEN ABSORB YOU THROUGH MY ROOTS! MWUHAHAHAH!"

However, the tree found the two were just out of his reach now. No matter how far he stretched his branches, he just couldn't quite make it to Montana and Keith.

"Didn't you say you were a 'walking, talking tree?'" Keith asked.

"I, THE INCREDIBLE WALKING AND TALKING TREE, MAY HAVE GREATLY EXAGGERATED MY WALKING ABILITY!"

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Tree, right!" Montana said with a wave. "But I think we'll just head out now."

"NO, YOU WILL GO NOWHERE!" The tree shouted as Montana and Keith turned their backs and departed. "YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF THE TREE! YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH!"

* * *

(Mountain)

BonBon and Neil wandered through the tunnels of the cave, aimlessly searching for anything new.

"This is pointless," Neil groaned. "You do realize we're in a computer simulation right? For all we know these paths could be endless."

"Or, we could be just around the corner of something great!" BonBon said. "It's all about perspective!"

The two turned the corner to find just another continuous tunnel.

"Aha!" BonBon exclaimed.

"Still nothing," Neil pointed out.

"Right, but maybe the NEXT one!" BonBon said while dragging Neil along by the wrist.

The two rushed along deeper into the tunnel and again found just another turn.

"Are you getting worn out yet?" Neil asked.

"Not by a long shot!" BonBon replied!

The two continued along, until this time coming up to a passage that seemed entirely made of ice. The rock just turned to icy tiles leading into an entire cavern with icicles dangling down from above.

"Holy snickerdoodles, we found something!" BonBon gasped in shock.

"You sound surprised," Neil remarked.

"What? Who, me? Never! I knew we'd find something eventually!" BonBon retorted.

"Well, guess we got to see what's waiting for us in there," Neil said as he took a step forward.

Suddenly an icicle plummeted straight for him. BonBon was only able to pull him out of the way a split second before he was impaled.

"That's the second time I've saved your life!" she announced. "What are you, crazy!? You can't just waltz along a booby-trapped passage like this. You wanna get yourself killed!?"

BonBon bonked Neil on the head.

"Okay, well what do we do then?" Neil asked. "This is what we've been waiting for?"

"And we're going to see exactly what's in store for us," BonBon said. "But with a little grace…like this!"

BonBon grabbed Neil by the wrist and dragged him along as she dashed across the ice. She swerved from side to side, dodging falling icicles, dropping tiles, a swinging pendulum of rock and ice. With a twirl here and there, a sudden halt and three steps back, followed by a gracefully leap, she got the two through safely until they landed on a drift of snow.

"Booyakasha! What did I tell you!?" BonBon said while tossing Neil against a wall. "Oops, sorry kiddo."

* * *

(Beach)

Portia was carried onto the ship by numerous pirates. She kicked and struggled but was held tightly from all over. The ship took off along the sea again and the shore began to grow in distance from her. Eventually she was tossed onto the deck at the feet of Captain Crazybeard.

"What do you want with me?" Portia demanded.

"Yarr, wouldn't you like to know!?" Crazybeard laughed. "We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now would we?"

"He has no idea," one of the pirates whispered to Portia. "He does everything with no plan, just off the top of his head."

"Silence!" Crazybeard roared before grabbing the pirate and throwing him overboard where he was eaten by a shark in a single bite.

Portia winced at the sudden death.

"Now, hows about we make a deal?" Crazybeard said to Portia. "Ye will duel one of me men, the first to get the other overboard wins. Win the duel and ye shall join me crew, lose and you'll walk the plank!"

Portia gasped.

"That plank," Crazybeard said as he pointed to a plank of wood protruding from the helm. "It won't kill ye, but it'll leave ye with some nasty bruises."

Portia stood up with determination. Crazybeard then kicked a skinny pirate towards her. He drew a cutlass and pointed it at Portia.

"P-please go easy on me," Portia quivered.

Her foe seemed uncertain about how to proceed.

"Uh…Captain?" he said tentatively. "Are ye sure we need to—"

Portia used his hesitation to deliver a kick between his legs. As he winced in pain she then grabbed him by the head and delivered a knee to his face. She finished by shoving him over the edge and into the water.

There was a brief silence, followed by Crazybeard announcing, "Welcome aboard!"

Suddenly Chris's voice filled the area and exclaimed, "Congratulations, Portia, by joining Crazybeard's crew you have completed one of your required tasks. You will be moving on to the next stage safely!"

* * *

(Catacomb)

Haylor leaned against the wall, color draining from her face. Teddy was desperately trying to find a way to help her but clearly had no idea what he was doing. Missy returned out of the darkness and approached the two of them again.

"Ah! You're back, so back, welcome back!" Teddy exclaimed. "Where's Ilona? Where'd she go!? Why's she not with you!? She's not with you at all, not a single bit!"

"Gee, I don't know," Missy lied with a shrug. "I never saw her. Oh well, you're my new best friend now."

Missy grabbed Teddy and hugged him.

"I am never letting you go, best friend," Missy exclaimed while squeezing him.

"Uhhhhh…okay," Teddy said uncertainly. "But we've really got to do something for Haylor."

"I'm…fine," Haylor rasped as she shakily stood up.

"Aw, she's fine, isn't that just super!?" Missy exclaimed. "I guess miracles do happen to bad people sometimes!"

"What was that?" Haylor asked.

"I said let's go already!" Missy replied.

The three started to move again. Haylor was having extreme difficulty keeping her balance though and walked woozily with her feet tripping over each other. Eventually she had to lean against Teddy's shoulder and have him support her to keep moving.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Teddy asked.

"I'll…manage," Haylor said with a cough.

The group heard another rumbling.

"Not this again," Missy groaned.

Tiles from the floor, walls, and ceiling slid open as animate corpses clambered into the hall.

"There's no stopping these guys!" Teddy exclaimed. "No halting, blocking, impeding, or even slowing down!"

The team kept running. Missy ran ahead, but Teddy had to support Haylor which caused them to fall behind.

"Missy, care to help out?" Teddy asked.

"I am helping, I'm leading by example!" Missy said. "You need to be faster."

Teddy just sighed. The zombies were gaining on the two by now. One stretched out its hand to grab Haylor but she managed to deliver a kick and knock it back. More and more were catching up though and beginning to come at the two from either side.

"Hold on tight!" Teddy said before charging at a zombie and smashing right through it with a headbutt.

Missy had reached the top of a shattered flight of stairs. Teddy scrambled up keeping Haylor's hand tightly in his grip. The zombies seemed to have trouble getting up the uneven steps and this allowed the three to put some distance between them.

"Well…that was fun," Teddy remarked.

Suddenly Haylor fell to the ground. Her body seemed even paler than ever. She wheezed before coughing violently.

"Haylor? Haylor!" Teddy exclaimed. "Oh this isn't good."

"Well, she said she was fine," Missy huffed. "If she's not then that must have been lie. Do you have any idea how sinful it is to lie without a good reason? It's disgusting! So either she's fine or we leave this liar here to die!"

"I'm…" Haylor said weakly but couldn't get out anymore before she broke out into coughing again.

Then her eyes glazed over and she stopped moving altogether.

"Say you'll remember me," she said as her final breath left her body, "even if it's only in…your wildest dreams…"

"Haylor," Chris's voice announced, "You've succumbed to your infection and will be leaving this game in 29th place. Congratulations to everyone else!"

"Well, better her than us!" Missy said as she grabbed Teddy. "Three is such an awkward number anyways, I much prefer two!"

* * *

(Field)

Raven and Azazel examined the map they had found intently while Mel paced impatiently.

"Hm…I think this is us here," Raven said. "Right here in the middle."

"And where do you think it's supposed to be leading us then?" Azazel said.

"Hmm…it's got to be—" Raven began.

"Okay, enough of the stupid map!" Mel said as she got between them. "Let's actually get to some action already!"

"This map could be our key to that," Raven said. "If we find where it's trying to lead us then we could close in on completing one of these goals."

"That map is meaningless!" Mel said. "We're in the middle of a field, how are we going to define anything!?"

"Well, actually," Raven said.

"Okay, shut up," Mel interrupted again. "Looks it's clear what we really have to do here. We need to find those goblins again and actually get something useless out of them!"

"Taking on an army would be foolish," Azazel said. "We would only be setting ourselves up for failure."

"Oh boo, that's loser talk," Mel scoffed. "I'm actually going to get something done, with or without you!"

"Looks like you'll have to be without is then," Raven said as she and Azazel turned to leave.

"Fine then, I will!" Mel said. "Who even needs you!?"

Raven sighed in relief as Mel left them.

"I think we're better off without her," she remarked.

"Agreed," Azazel replied. "Her habits would only prove to be harmful to us."

"Now, as I was saying," Raven said as she looked over the map. "It mostly just seems arbitrary…but look here it seems to follow the shape of a path…and it just ends at the edge where there's this…well some sort of landmark. I think that's where we're going to want to go."

"Then let's get moving," Azazel said.

* * *

(Forest)

Rudy sat in the corner of his cell, he appeared to be in deep thought, but in reality was keeping his eyes on his guard. The smaller blue ogre seemed to be getting bored and was aimlessly pacing. Rudy waited until he was furthest away, then in a smooth motion he got up and charged against the wooden bars. Using his shoulder, he broke free.

"Hey!" the ogre gasped more in surprise than anger.

Rudy grabbed one of the broken sticks and attacked with it. He delivered a blow to the creature's head, but the ogre fought back. The blue creature lunged at Rudy with its hand outstretched, trying to claw at his face. Despite being the smallest of the pack, the ogre was still slightly larger than Rudy and managed to knock him to the ground. Rudy fended him off with his weapon, but the two continued to struggle in deadlock. Rudy inched himself towards the wall were he saw a number of pots lined up. He managed to grab one and slam it over his attacker's head. A substance leaked out over his neck, Rudy didn't want to know what it was. The ogre was clearly affected and struggled to pull the pot off of his head, but to no avail. Rudy delivered a kick to his chest and knocked him against the wall.

"I'm getting out of here!" he announced as he ran off.

Meanwhile, Roquette was still dealing with an ogre of her own. She scrambled through the thick jungle while the large red creature lumbered after her. Not realizing how much he had neared her, she let out a cry of shock as his long arm clutched her ankles.

"Ah!" she moaned as she hit the ground and rolled through the dirt again.

She didn't waste any time though. She rolled between her pursuer's legs and continued to run in a new direction.

"You can't run for me forever," Crock roared.

"You can't chase me forever," Roquette retorted. "I guess it's just a game of who drops first."

Crock charged for Roquette again, but stumbled as someone jumped on his head.

"Don't mind me," Montana exclaimed as she bounced off of him and back into the trees. "Just passing through, right."

Keith followed suit and hurried after Montana. Crock turned to snarl at them but then returned to look for Roquette again. She was gone. Disappeared into the wild- vegetation. Crock roared angrily and punched a tree over.

* * *

(Mountain)

Hunter, Kitty, and Mona continued to make their way up the mountain. Kitty was exhausted and breathing heavily as she leaned against the stone cold wall. Hunter seemed fairly worn out as well, while Mona said cross-legged drinking tea.

"Well, at least we already dealt with the Yeti," Hunter remarked. "The worst is behind us."

"Oh don't be silly," Kitty laughed. "Contrary to popular belief Yetis are pack creatures. The one we saw was likely a loner, most likely excommunicated because he was the runt of the pack."

"You can't just make up facts like that," Hunter scoffed. "Yetis don't even exist in the real world, where do you—"

The group then heard several roars coming from above.

"Well Yetis do exist here, so I suggest you just trust my resources," Kitty replied.

The group continued to climb.

"Look," Hunter exclaimed as they reached another ledge.

He crawled over to a crack in the rock and ice though. It showed that this part of the mountain was hollow. Peering in he was able to see a wide cave.

"Something tells me that's where we're supposed to go," he said while taking out his pickaxe.

He began to chisel away at the rock until the gap turned into a passage large enough for the three of them to fit through. The group slid in and entered the cave. The cave proved to be surprisingly spacious, the three could stand up comfortably and walk through the area without struggle.

"Alright, now let's be careful here," Kitty said. "There could be Yetis anywhere. We're likely closing in on their hoard."

Suddenly the group heard the same roaring, only much louder as it echoed throughout the chamber.

"Well…that's not good," Kitty remarked.

The entire cavern started to shake and rumble. Then a group of towering beasts barged out from every side.

"Hm…are we ready to die?" Kitty asked.

"We're all going to die one day," Mona pointed out.

"Can't argue with that," Kitty said. "Let's do this!"

Kitty raised her sword and charged at the nearest Yeti.

* * *

(Beach)

Judie was using her hands as mock binoculars as she spied on the pirate ship on the water.

"The target is in sight," she said. "Time for your first mission. Before us we see a band of pirates, and where there's pirates there's…"

"Uh…" Calvin replied cluelessly.

"Treasure!" Judie said as she shoved him over the edge of their vantage point.

Calvin him the sand and Judie gracefully slid down to join him.

"Too slow," she said to his dazed face while snapping at him. "You gotta make the connections like that, you gotta think lightning quick! Mental Activity: I say Tomato what's the first thing that comes to your mind!?"

"Uh…Potato?" Calvin asked.

"Wrong!" Judie snapped. "Tomato, Ketchup, Burger, McDonalds, Old McDonald, Farm, Crops, Crop Circles, Aliens! You see where I'm going with this!?"

"No," Calvin answered as he got up and rubbed his head.

"Well you've still got a long way to go," Judie replied. "But it's time to prove yourself. I want you to use your new found Duskowl skills to swipe that map from those pirates."

"How!?" Calvin asked perplexed.

"I can't tell you what to do, you've got to channel your own inner strength!" Judie said.

"You've had no problem telling me what to do all this time," Calvin retorted.

"Are you going to keep trying to argue with me or are you going to live up to your potential and do something useless for once in your life!?" Judie asked. "Let me give you a hint, it's the second one, now GO!"

With that Judie disappeared. Calvin glanced around.

"Okay, how hard can it be to bust out some skills?" he remarked. "I've got skills, I don't need some psycho training to prove that."

Calvin grabbed onto a tree and pulled it back, making it into a sling and launching himself across the water. Once he was fired into the air he hit the sea and began to bounce like a pebble along the water. He was not as stealthy as he had hoped though as the pirates did take notice of him.

"Captain…there appears to be a…lad of some sort…bouncing on the water," one of the pirates said as they looked through the spyglass.

"Why that sounds crazy!" Crazybeard exclaimed. "So crazy it'd be right up my alley!"

The captain shoved the other pirate out of the way and took the telescope from him. He peered through and saw Calvin. However, the boy had lost momentum by now on his latest bounce just hit the water and sank in.

"Um…that was not supposed to happen," he remarked as he floundered through the water.

Just then he saw a shark fin emerge next to him and began circling him.

"And…I'm outta here!" Calvin exclaimed as he madly began paddling back to the shore.

"Bah! Not worth my time!" Crazybeard said as he threw the spyglass away with disappointment.

Calvin frantically and awkwardly splashed through the water. Sinking underneath from time to time only to pull himself back to the surface. He finally reached the shore again, just before the shark emerged and chomped right where he had been a second ago. As he turned around he saw Judie waiting expectantly for him.

"Well?" she demanded.

"I didn't get it," Calvin said dismissively.

"Of course you didn't, I knew you were destined for failure," Judie said. "That's why you were the distraction while I swiped this!"

She revealed a dusty old map.

"I was the distraction!?" Calvin snapped.

"Obviously," Judie replied. "Did you really think I'd trust you to a mission like this when you're clearly so very incapable?"

"I could have died," Calvin insisted.

"But you didn't, and that's why you're my protégé and not just some nobody on the street, keep it up!" Judie said. "Now let's find this treasure!"

Meanwhile, Garfield, Beatrice, and Todd were wandering along a different part of the beach.

"Oh hey guys, look at that!" Beatrice exclaimed as she pointed upwards.

The boys glanced up and saw an opening in a tall rock spire.

"Hm, you think it's important?" Garfield asked.

"Yes, yes I do," Beatrice replied. "Let's check it out."

"What makes you say that?" Garfield asked. "Could just be a part of the scene."

"No it's important and we're checking it out," Beatrice said firmly.

"Sounds like a challenge to me," Todd exclaimed. "Let's do it!"

The larger boy ran to the spire and quickly began scaling it. Garfield just shrugged and followed after him. Beatrice brought up the rear. Todd's eager scrambling up the rock caused several pebbles and dirt to chafe off and roll into Garfield's face.

"Guys, guys!" Todd exclaimed once he reached the top. "You've got to get up here and see this!"

Once the others joined him they saw a light blue glow emmenating from the inside of the cave.

"Well…that certainly looks telling to me," Garfield said.

"Come on, let's go!" Todd urged.

The cave opened up into a surprisingly spacious chamber. As the boys continued the light got brighter. Soon they had found a bridge that crossed over a pool of water. It lead to a single stone platform with a cerulean conch floating and glowing above it.

"Wow, jackpot!" Todd exclaimed.

Todd rushed across the bridge and Garfield carefully followed behind. Beatrice stayed off the bridge, her eyes glowing blue again.

"I told you this was important," she said. "Unfortunately, you'll be too busy drowning to reach your treasure."

With a flick of her wrist a blue streak covered the bridge then it vanished. The boys plummeted down into the pool of water.

"There's no escape for you now," Beatrice continued. "It's only a matter of how long you can keep stay afloat.

* * *

(Catacomb)

Ilona hit the ground. She groaned as pain shot through her body. All around her was nothing but darkness. She rolled over with an ache coursing through her. All she could see was just inky blackness. Then she heard something moving with her. She clenched her teeth and pulled herself up. She grabbed what felt like a rock or some sort of block to gain some support. Focusing her eyes she could see a large silhouette moving in the shadows. She didn't like the look of it. She tried to back up. Moving just shot searing pangs over tender spots on her body. She kept moving though. The creature that was sharing the space with her seemed to have taken note of her and was moving towards her. Ilona tripped over something and fell down again. The large creature didn't stop nearing her. Ilona tried to regain herself. As she did, she realized that what she had stumbled over was in fact a litter of bones. She momentarily winced, but didn't allow herself to lose focus. She turned her head, she could see the monstrosity that was coming towards her now. Its head was almost human, but deformed and misshapen into a rotting skull. The rest of the body seemed to be some unnatural mix of both human and spider. Black fur coated it, eight legs moved in a sporadic synchronism. It was coming straight for Ilona. The girl moved faster than before, desperate to escape the monster. The creature roared and lunged for her. Ilona desperately grabbed a bone and jammed it into the monster's oncoming mouth. The beast seemed slightly hurt and backed off, just for an instance, allowing Ilona to run again. She came to a wall and didn't waste any time. She flung herself at it and tried to scramble up wherever she could. She found the ledge of an indent in the wall and tried to scramble up to it. The creature came after her though and bit down on her leg.

"AAaaaah!" Ilona screamed in pain.

She fell towards the creature, landing on its face. She desperately wrangled her leg free and climbed up on to the creature's head. The monster began backing up and trying to shake her off though. Ilona had to move quickly; she leapt off of the creature's head and into the niche. The creature snapped at her and began to scale the wall as well. Ilona looked around, she spotted a large boulder and began rolling it towards the edge. She wasn't moving fast enough, the creature was already nearing its head to the opening. Ilona gave a final lurch of strength and sent the boulder rolling. It dropped over the edge and slammed straight into the creature's skull, shattering it to pieces and causing it to drop dead. Ilona let out a small victorious sigh, then felt all the pain come shooting back.

"Congratulations Illona!" Chris announced. "You've destroyed The Monstrosity of the Depths and earned yourself safety on to the next phase!"

* * *

(Field)

Caleb and Gillian carried the wounded Jacquie along the field. They could see the towering city now, walls sprung up, surrounding it from all sides. They still had a distance to cross though, and they could see another band of goblins milling about between them.

"We can't afford another fight," Gillian said, "Your friend needs help immediately."

"Get her to the city," Caleb said. "I'll handle these guys."

"Are you sure? " Gillian asked.

"Do it, I'll be fine," Caleb assured.

Caleb then clutched his staff and ran towards the group.

"Hey, dummies!" he called. "Catch me if you can!"

The goblins raised their weapons angrily and chased after Caleb. The boy led them away from the women. Once the goblins had all given to the chase, Gillian helped carry Jacquie towards the gate of the town. Caleb meanwhile kept putting distance between them. Soon, though he realized he was going to have to turn around. The band of goblins was gaining on him. With a sharp twist, he turned around and ran straight for them.

"Alright, move it!" he exclaimed as he swung his weapon and knocked them out of the way.

Many of them he was able to send sprawling just from the shock effect. As he kept moving though, others began more aggressive. They started to fight back , and Caleb found himself outnumbered. He swung his staff around, trying to block oncoming attacks from multiple directions. Caleb wasn't interested in fighting, though, just getting back them. He tried to force his way through. The goblins put up a fight thought. One using a trident delivered a sharp blow to his shoulder. Caleb winced, he was losing his chance, more and more were coming at him. Suddenly one of the nearest goblins was impaled by an arrow straight through its chest. Caleb was shocked, then another arrow hit a goblin in the head.

"Come on!" called a foreign voice. "Get moving!"

Caleb regained himself and began to fight off the goblins with his staff again. He was able to force his way through and then just began to sprint straight for the gate. He saw his savior, a tall boy with red hair and a blue cloak. He was wielding a bow and firing with skill, always hitting his mark. Caleb made it inside the gate and the boy followed before it closed shut. Caleb looked around and saw that the field was gone, he was now in a bustling city full of buildings all around him. He saw Gillian waiting for him in the street.

"Your friend is resting she should be able to recover," Gillian said.

"My name is Sylvander" the boy introduced. "Thank you for helping my Aunt. It means a great much to me."

"Attention, Caleb and Jacquie!" Chris announced. "You've both completed a set of tasks. Jacquie for taking the blow for Gillian and therefore keeping her safe to her destination, and Caleb for reaching the central town. Both of you will be moving on to the next stage!"

"What even is the next stage?" Caleb remarked to himself.

"Perhaps we should talk," Sylvander said to Caleb. "You are clearly a skilled warrior to have survived during this horrid goblin uprising. I think someone of your talents will be very needed, very soon…"

(To be continued…)


	5. Chapter 5

(Forest)

Annie and Duke slid down into darkness before hitting a soft landing. They found themselves trapped in a room made up of soft yet firm leafy material. A light pink glow at just the slightest amount of illumination.

"What is wrong with you!?" Annie said as she grabbed Duke and shook him. "You trying to get us killed!? Well I hope you're happy now, we're both stuck in here!"

"Could you…please stop…shaking me?" Duke asked.

"Never!" Annie shouted.

Duke shoved Annie away and broke free of her grip.

"Look, sorry about this, but we're both stuck here so maybe we can focus on getting out before anything else?" Duke suggested.

"That's not how I roll," Annie said while she shoved Duke up against the side of the wall.

Suddenly a liquid dripped down to her shoulder. It burned through her sleeve and singed her skin. Annie nervously glanced up to see more of the acid was being secreted from the leafy substance.

"On second thought," Annie said, "let's get out of here."

Duke backed up from the side and the two gathered in the middle. Duke glanced upwards.

"Doesn't look like we can get back out the way we came in," he remarked.

"Well, what DO you suggest then!?" Annie demanded.

"I'm thinking!" Duke said.

"Can you do it a little faster?" Annie asked. "I'm not sure how much time we have…"

"Well, you're free to help too!" Duke said with annoyance.

"You're the one who got us into this!" Annie retorted.

"Do you want to die or not!?" Duke snapped back.

"I don't want to die!" Annie cried in panic.

Annie ran to one of the walls and began tearing at the leafy material.

"What are you doing?" Duke demanded.

"I'm finding a way out," Annie retorted. "You gonna help me!?"

Duke uncertainly ran over to join her. The material did began to peel away slightly. Duke joined in and began to pull at it with Annie. Together they were able to reveal a patch of dirt.

"Now what?" Duke asked.

"Now we dig!" Annie said as she began to claw at the dirt. "Anywhere is better there here!"

Up on the surface, Montana and Keith were still swinging through the trees with the fruit in hand.

"Just about there," Montana said, holding the fruit close to her chest. "I'm starting to recognize this place, right."

They clambered up higher to where they could see some monkeys playing on the branches.

"We did it!" Montana exclaimed.

"I think you mean…I did it!" Keith said as he swiped the fruit from Montana's grip and ran for the sick monkey's grove.

"No, I mean I did it," Montana said casually as she pulled out a boomerang and tossed at it Keith.

It made contact with his head and caused him to plummet down to the ground below.

"Trust boomerang, never leave home without it, right," Montana said as she caught her weapon.

She then slid down and grabbed the fruit back from the wounded Keith.

"I probably should have waited a few more minutes before pulling that stunt," he remarked.

"Probably!" Montana agreed.

Montana then climbed back up and found the sick monkey in the same place she had been before.

"Here you go, dear," Montana said as she handed over the fruit. "Hope it helps, right."

The monkey eagerly took the fruit and began to nibble on it, before giving a grateful coo at Montana.

"Aw, it was nothing!" Montana said.

"And with that!" Chris announced. "Montana has secured her place in the next stage!"

Over in the swamp structure, Rudy was carefully making his way back the way he had come, ready to escape. He froze and clung the shadows though as he saw a group of the trolls in the main room where he had entered.

"Did you get rid of the humans then?" the eldest asked.

"Yes," Croc answered tentatively. "…most of them."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Dragon said impatiently.

"Well…there was one of them," Croc explained. "And she…well…she escaped, I lost track of her. I'm sure I could find her if—"

"You've already proven yourself to be a failure," Dragon scoffed.

"Does this mean it's my turn!?" Toad asked eagerly. "Remember how I caught those first two humans? I'm sure I could do it again."

"No, we're not wasting any more time playing around," Dragon said sternly. "I'll handle this myself."

Dragon rose from his seat and marched outside. The other two remained, though, and Rudy knew he would have a hard time taking both of them on.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to find a different route," he sighed to himself as he backed up.

* * *

(Mountain)

BonBon and Neil traveled deeper into the chamber of ice.

"So whattaya think we're gonna find in here?" BonBon asked. "A lost city? Buried treasure? A cabin with an all you can eat buffet!?"

"Or maybe we'll find nothing," Neil suggested.

"You want to die young? Because that pessimistic attitude is EXACTLY how you get there!" BonBon scoffed.

The two overcame a heap of snow and then saw before them the hilt of a sword stemming out of a cobalt stone.

"Booyakasha, what'd I tell you!" BonBon exclaimed while shooting her arms into the air, accidentally punching Neil in the face by accident and causing him to roll back down the heap of snow.

BonBon eagerly ran over to the sword and pulled it out of the rock. She held it up triumphantly. The blade itself was uneven and jagged, like a piece of shattered ice. BonBon slashed the air wildly.

"I feel like Jackie Chan!" she exclaimed.

"I fail to see any connection whatsoever," Neil remarked as he slid down to join her.

"Congratulations, BonBon!" Chris exclaimed. "You have found the Ice Blade and will be safe to the next phase…but that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing for Neil, speaking of which…"

The stone BonBon had pulled the sword out of suddenly started to rumble and sink into the ground. Then the entire cave rumbled and quaked violently. Rock crumbled off of the surroundings and fell forward. Neil lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Oh no, you are not dying!" BonBon exclaimed. "Not on MY watch!"

BonBon grabbed Neil and flung him over her shoulder. She then began running back the way they had come. She swerved from side to side, dodging falling rocks of all sizes. A sudden quake knocked her and Neil to the side. A large sharp rock came falling right for them. BonBon held up her sword and upon contact the rock shattered to pebbles.

"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" BonBon exclaimed.

BonBon continued to make her way through the collapsing cavern. As they came to the same point where the rock began ice, though, the ground split apart and crumbled, causing a chasm to form between them and their destination.

"Okay…do you trust me?" BonBon asked Neil.

"Not particularly, we only just met and I find you brash and unaware," Neil replied.

"Well, I've got good news for you!" BonBon said. "You don't NEED to trust me for this next part, it would just help you feel better!"

With that BonBon spun Neil around and tossed him over the chasm. She then backed up and leapt to join him. She just barely missed her mark, though. She dug her sword into the side of the rock and clung to it. From there she was able to pull herself back up to join Neil.

"How about that!?" BonBon exclaimed to Neil. "You feel your heartbeat racing yet!?"

* * *

(Beach)

Judie examined the map intently, twisting it around to different angles.

"Do you want me to look at that?" Calvin asked.

"Why would I want that? HMM!?" Judie demanded while jabbing two fingers at Calvin. "Why would you ask such a stupid question with such an obvious answer? Are you trying to imply that you would be more suited for this task, when it's already been well established that I am superior to you in every possible facet? Why are you wasting my time like this!?"

"Okay fine, just forget I said anything," Calvin said.

"Oh no, the Nighthawk never forgets, not a single detail!" Judie hissed. "Anyways, the treasure is that way, let's go!"

Judie pointed in the direction and the two took off again along the sand. They made their way around several jutting rocks and Calvin was eagerly pulling ahead, but he was suddenly grabbed by the neck by Judie.

"And just WHAT do you think you're doing!?" she snapped.

"But you said—" Calvin began.

"It's not about who said what, it's about what you SENSE!" Judie snapped. "Can't you sense the amount of power coming from up in that cavern!? Of course you cannot, that would be giving you way too much credit!"

"So…you're saying we should go up their now?" Calvin asked.

"We? WE!? Haven't you been paying any attention!?" Judie snapped. "What is it that makes us better than normal people? No you do not because that would imply that you were paying attention which you clearly were not! So let me simplify it for you, I'm going to give you three very important words, are you ready for this because I'm not repeating it: Divide and Conquer. And you wanna know which one of those words is the MOST important?"

"Uh—" Calvin tried to say.

"AND!" Judie answered. "You know why? Because you can't have 'and' with only one person, it takes two. I can't say Nighthawk and Nighthawk because there's only one Nighthawk that's just not grammatically possible, it makes no sense, that would be Divide OR Conquer! But there is two of us which means we're one step ahead of the others, while they're busy doing one or the other, we're doing both at the same time, double our speed, half our time, badda-bing badda-boom, profit!"

"Uh…that doesn't really make—" Calvin once again tried to speak up.

"You're doing that thing again, why must you always do that thing!?" Judie barked as she turned him around. "Now go get that treasure!"

With that Judie began to scale the rock side skillfully. Calvin then continued to rush along the sand. As he moved though, he did realize a certain obstacle.

"She could have been way more specific with the directions," he sighed to himself. "Didn't even leave me the map either? Wow, how does she ever expect me to…oh"

He stopped short, having seen a giant red X painted along the sand.

"I guess that was simpler than I thought," Calvin remarked.

Calvin searched around and grabbed a log with a wedge shaped end. He then began digging through the sand right in the center of the X. He didn't have to dig long before hitting something solid.

"Aha, treasure, treasure!" he cheered.

However as he tried to uncover the chest, he noticed a shadow forming over him. He looked up to see a pirate ship approaching the shore.

"ARG!" Crazybeard cried from the edge of the ship. "Someone be stealing me booty!"

"Oh…that's very unfortunate," Portia remarked.

"DESTROY THEM!" Crazybeard roared. "Man the cannons, give them everything we've got!"

Calvin cried out in fear as he was suddenly under fire from a barrage of cannonballs. He ducked his head though and continued digging through the sand. Rocks began to come crumbling off the cliffs and rolling towards Calvin. He reached the lip of the chest though and opened it up to find it filled with glowing gold.

"Yes!" he cheered.

"Congratulations, Calvin!" Chris announced. "You're safe to the next phase for finding Crazybeard's loot…you may want to take shelter though."

Calvin looked up to see the oncoming avalanche and quickly hopped inside the chest and closed it shut on top of him.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Missy and Teddy walked through the stone passages, still seemingly getting nowhere new.

"Why is this taking so long?" Missy lamented.

"I don't know, I don't know," Teddy replied. "I just hope we don't have to run into anymore of those freaks. With Ilona gone—"

"Why do you keep mentioning Ilona!?" Missy snapped. "She's gone, she's not here, can't you just let that go and move on!? Am I not good enough for you!? Am I not suitable to be your best friend because I'm not Ilona!? I am try really hard here and you just keep digging up the past!"

"…Sorry," Teddy said. "I just mentioned it onc—"

"Yeah, well don't!" Missy shouted.

The two walked in silence for a little longer. Teddy began inspecting the walls though, hopping from side to side and gazing at the stones that made up the room.

"What are you doing?" Missy asked.

"Checking this out!" Teddy said. "There's symbols, runes, hieroglyphics, whatever you want to call it, I think it's a message, it's telling us something, something big, something important, or maybe not, maybe just something regular, but it's still cool!"

"Well? What does it say?" Missy asked.

"I don't know, Missy, I don't speak ancient Messagyptian!" Teddy exclaimed. "But I'm working on it…and in fact, I think they're trying to tell us something is right…here!"

Teddy jabbed his finger at a single brick…nothing happened.

"Uh….here, here, here, herehehreherehereherehere!" Teddy exclaimed as he began rushing around the room slamming points at random.

Eventually one of them sank back into the wall and revealed a hidden compartment.

"Aha! What did I tell you!?" he exclaimed.

Teddy reached in and searched the cavity…eventually he pulled his hand back out holding what looked like a flute made out of bone.

"That's gross," Missy said.

"But it's clearly something important!" Teddy exclaimed triumphantly as he held it up.

Then the room began to shake. More rotting bodies emerged from the floor and walls.

"Uggh not again!" Missy cried. "This is all your fault!"

"Fear not!" Teddy exclaimed. "I shall be rid of them with the use of a frightful melody!"

Teddy clutched the instrument and blew into it. It let out a low note, but was soon blocked out by Chris's voice.

"Good job, Teddy, by playing the Fife of the Dead you have secured a spot in the next stage," Chris announced. "Say farewell!"

A shroud of fog engulfed Teddy then as it faded he was gone.

"So that's it?" Missy said in fury. "You're just gonna abandon me here!? You are the WORST best friend ever!"

The group of zombies began to circle around Missy by now.

"Back off!" she screamed as she slapped at them wildly.

She grabbed one by the skull and slammed it against the wall.

"Are you judging me!? ME!?" she shouted at it while pounding it to dust. "You're a mindless corpse, you have no place judging me!"

She backed up and jabbed an elbow through the ribcage of another.

"You know what? You are all trying to kill me right now, so I am totally justified in returning the favor!" Missy said while tossing them aside and breaking free.

She ran ahead, further down the passage, leaving the lumbering corpses behind. She came up on a flight of stairs. She kept moving up them, she found that these steps were more solid than the rotting material of the rest of the temple. Eventually she reached the top which seemed to just lead to a dead-end.

"Huh?" she said as she came up to the ceiling.

However, she managed to move aside a passage of the ceiling. Sunlight suddenly poured in filling the shadows. Missy eagerly climbed out and found herself in a desert.

"Congratulations, Missy," Chris announced. "You've escaped the catacombs and earned your place in the next stage."

* * *

(Field)

Mel marched back towards the goblin camp with her plank of wood firmly grasped in her hand.

"Hey, you big dumb morons!" she shouted. "Here I am, come and get me!"

A group of goblins seemed confused at first but shrugged and charged at her

"Yeah, that's right," Mel said as she swung her weapon along their faces. "Take that, and that!"

Knocking the group to the ground she began to attack the tents.

"Yeah, I'm destroying your stuff, what are you going to do about it!?" Mel shouted while beating the tent until it fell apart.

More and more goblins emerged and began staring at her quizzically.

"Eh, you want a piece of me!?" Mel goaded.

The goblins charged at her from all sides. Mel just swung her plank of wood wildly. She managed to knock back many, but many more were getting at her. She received blows from all over and was eventually shoved down to the ground. However, before they were upon her, a roar sounded and the goblins dispersed into a ring around her. The larger, armored goblin stomped forward.

"Oh you want to fight now?" Mel said as she got up. "Makes sense, these guys were too easy for me anyways."

The goblin slapped his mace in the palm of his hand.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Mel said as she held up her plank of wood.

The two circled around each other for a few seconds before the goblin chose to lung at Mel with its weapon swinging through the air. Mel backed up and ended up hitting the round and rolling out of the way. She got back up quickly though and delivered an attack of her own. She swung her plank against the monster's arm…only to have it snap in half.

"Well…that's unfortunate," she remarked.

The goblin swung his mace at her again. Mel had to dodge from side to side as the goblin attacked ferociously. She didn't move fast enough though and was eventually hit and knocked to the ground in pain. She clenched her teeth as she tilted her head to face the oncoming attacker. Mel managed to roll out of the way just in time to avoid a smashing blow that would have shattered her body. She reached up and latched on to the creature's arm. The goblin seemed somewhat confused at her new approach, but Mel used his momentary distraction to ram her splintered plank of wood into his eye. The monster staggered backwards. His grip loosened and Mel used the chance to stomp on his hand. The goblin dropped his weapon while continuing to stagger backwards. Mel tried to pick up the mace but found it to be much heavier than expected. The goblin unleashed an angrily roar before lunging at Mel again. Mel managed to just raise the mace and swing it at his knee lightly. It was enough to make him trip and rolling along the dirt though.

"Aha!" Mel exclaimed. "Now I'm gonna…really finish you off."

She still struggled to lift the mace though and had to drag it along the ground. The goblin was starting to get up again so Mel tossed the weapon at him. It ended up landing on his foot. He cried out in pain again.

"That's right, and there's plenty more where that came from!" Mel shouted.

The goblin then picked up his mace again and struck through the air furiously.

"Oh okay, that could have gone better," Mel said.

Mel continued to dodge the fury of blows coming her way. She managed to snake around and get herself behind the beast. She climbed up its back and placed herself on its head.

"Hey, up here, dummy!" she taunted.

The creature swung its mace, but Mel slid back down. The goblin only ended up whacking itself on the head. It then staggered back and forth dizzily before collapsing on the ground.

"Yeah!" Mel exclaimed as she stood victoriously. "That's how it's done!"

"Mel," Chris's voice announced, "congratulations. For defeating the Goblin Leader, you will be moving ahead to the next stage."

* * *

(Forest)

Annie and Duke had managed to dig through the dirt around them. Once they got through the initial layer it began to crumble away into a bit of a passage structured through enormous vines and roots. There was still plenty of dirt in their way, but it fell apart easily enough and guided them along the path.

"We're probably wasting a lot of time down here," Duke sighed. "The others could be close to reaching their goals by now."

"Don't think like that!" Annie said optimistically. "Everything happens for a reason, maybe we're just getting on track down here!"

"Maybe," Duke said.

"I still don't forgive you though," Annie said while giving Duke a glare.

"Alright, look," Duke said, "I have a friend and he could be in trouble if—"

"Look!" Annie exclaimed suddenly while pulling ahead.

She arrived at a vine that was dangling vertically. Sunlight was spilling in through cracks above.

"We found our way out!" she cheered happily.

However, as she ran towards it, the dirt beneath her feet began to crumble away. Duke managed to grab her just in time to save her from plummeting downward. The loose dirt dropped and landed it a bit of a strange light pink liquid.

"That…was a close one," Annie remarked.

"Let's just get out of here," Duke said.

Annie grabbed the vine and began to climb, Duke followed behind her. They neared the surface again. Annie pushed away some of the dirt to reveal the forest again.

"Oh, one thing," Annie said.

Suddenly she kicked Duke in the chest and knocked him off of the vine. He fell straight down into the pink pool.

"Now we're even!" Annie shouted. "No one messes with me!"

Annie pulled herself up and reached the surface ground again. She glanced around, nothing looked familiar to her. She chose a direction at random and meandered through the woods. She didn't have to go far before something caught her eye though, something large in the distance. She set her sights on it and made it her target. She had to clear through more brambles and shrugs, but eventually she reached the towering hollow log.

"Whoa," she exhaled.

"Annie!" Chris announced. "You've reached the Mystic Hollow, and for this you will be safe to the next stage."

"Yes!" Annie cheered while shooting her fist into the air.

Back down below, Duke emerged from the pool, gasping for air. He floundered through the liquid which didn't seem to be any more harmful than water. Eventually he reached some solid ground again. Looking around, he realized his surroundings were tinted pink, similar to when he was inside the flower.

"That brat," he cursed as he looked up to see he had no way of getting back up.

He did find another path for him to follow though.

"Guess I've got nowhere better to go," he sighed as he walked down it.

It did not take long for him to enter a wider chamber. In the center was an altar with a delicate pink bulb placed atop it. Duke walked up to it cautiously before hazarding picking it up. A bright light shone through the room.

It was followed by Chris announcing, "Duke, you have found the bulb of the forest! Congratulations on your passage to the next stage!"

Rudy, meanwhile, was journeying deeper into his confinement. It seemed like he was only trapping himself further in a dead end, but after travelling past the mud walls he eventually spotted a door. He eagerly moved for it. Outside the door he found himself in what appeared to be a garden. Various plant were lined up, all of it surrounded by a wooden fence. Rudy moved out into it, his first step sinking deep into mud. He realized that the entire garden was planted in the mud. Travelling slowly through the mucky substance, Rudy tried to make his way to the fence. As he did though, someone spotted him.

"Hey, human!" Toad cried as he charged out the door. "You're supposed to be locked up, not out here!"

Rudy tried to pick up the pace. He reached the side of the fence and leapt up, climbing along the uneven wood. Toad caught up with him though and used his massive hand to grab Rudy by the back and pull him into the mud. The large ogre then proceeded to tackle him and hold him down.

"That's nice I've caught you!" Toad exclaimed proudly. "I'm too good at this, my brothers have to see this now!"

"Wait, wait wait," Rudy said as he struggled to pull himself out of the mud.

"Wait? Why?" Toad asked.

"Because…uh because your brothers clearly don't respect you," Rudy said. "Even I can see the way they look down at you, doesn't matter if you catch a hundred humans that's not going to change."

"You think I could catch a hundred humans!?" Toad exclaimed. "Well, I'm already at two so just another ninety-eight."

"That's not the point," Rudy said. "The point is if you throw me back in the dungeon then your brothers will go back to treating you like a piece of furniture and nothing will change!"

"Oh," Toad said sadly.

"That's option number one," Rudy said. "Option number two is you let me go, you and me can leave this dump behind. I'm not like the other humans, believe me I hate them as much as you guys do, you and me we could work together to put a stop to all the others out there."

"Hm…" Toad said in deep thought. "What about option number three?"

"What's that?" Rudy asked.

"We got my way," Toad said as he grabbed the top of a plant and pulled it up.

It proved to be much bigger than a single plant. The more he pulled the more than came out of the mud. Once it was all uncovered, Rudy realized he was looking at a craft made out of pieces of the plants all joined together.

"Hop on," Toad said, "Let's get out of here."

Rudy did so.

"Rudy!" Chris's voice announced. "You've made a new friend and a way out, congratulations on earning your spot in the next stage of this game!"

Out in the woods, Roquette was still moving nervously. She seemed worn by exhaustion, but determined to keep herself moving. However, she stopped when she heard some stomping in the distance. It was increasing at an alarming rate.

"Ugh, not again," she sighed.

She tried to keep moving, but in no time, Dragon emerged barreling towards her. With a slap of his fist he knocked her through the forest.

"Alright, human, it's time to end this!" Dragon roared.

Roquette let out of a weak groan. She tried to raise her bow, but she was completely sapped of strength. Instead she chose to roll out of the way, just in time to avoid Dragon charging at her again. Dragon tore through anything in his ways. Bushes, vines, even trees all got torn out of the ground and pushed aside.

"There's no use in struggling," Dragon roared. "You have no chance now."

Roquette didn't have the energy to quip a sharp remark, instead she just kept moving, pulling herself along with whatever she could. Dragon made another charge, tearing through the vegetation all around her. One tree he reached though torn out its roots, but didn't go down.

"NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!" the tree shouted angrily. "YOU DON'T JUST UPROOT THE FREAKING WALKING, TALKING TREE. IT'S SOMETHING YOU JUST DON'T DO, BUD!"

Dragon ignored the tree though and moved back to hunting Roquette. The tree used its branches to grab Dragon by the arm though.

"HEY, PAL, I'M TALKING TO YOU!" the tree snapped. "IT IS RUDE TO NOT LOOK AT PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE TALKING TO YOU, ESPESCIALLY IF THEY ARE A TALKING TREE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TREES CAN TALK!? JUST ME! YEAH I'M A PRETTY BIG FREAKING DEAL! SO HOW ABOUT A LITTLE RESPECT!"

Dragon shoved the tree off of him angrily.

"OKAY NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!" the tree shouted. "YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY MADE ME MAD!"

The tree grabbed Dragon by the arm and spun him around, tossing him into the ground.

"YEAH, SEE THAT!? RESPECT THE TREE!" the tree shouted.

Roquette took her chance. While Dragon was dazed, she clutched an arrow in her fist and ran up to him. Using her remaining strength she dug the arrow into his neck. Dragon let out a defeated cry, then crumpled.

"Roquette!" Chris announced. "You have defeated Dragon and earned your place in the next stage of the game. This means that all five tasks have been completed for the forest and there's no room for…Keith!"

"Wait what?" Keith said before he was transformed to a pile of dust.

"Keith, so sorry but you have been eliminated, your journey ends here," Chris said.

"AND I!" the tree announced, realizing that his roots had been freed from the ground. "CAN FINALLY WALK, I TRULY AM THE AMAZING WALKING TALKING TREE! I'M GOING TO DO SOME WALKING NOW, PROVE ALL THE HATERS WRONG! YOU SEE ME NOW MOM!? SHOWS WHAT YOU KNOW!"

* * *

(Mountain)

Kitty, Mona, and Hunter crowded together in the center of the mountain cave while the Yetis swarmed around them.

"Okay…we may be a little over our heads here," Kitty remarked.

"Just a little?" Hunter replied.

"I am detecting a lot of stress emanating from the both of you," Mona stated. "That will solve nothing, I propose a tea break."

The Yetis all charged at them and the group scrambled in different directions. The cave was soon a fury of swinging paws. Kitty skipped from side to side dodging the angry beasts. Hunter slid along the ice, trying to find cover. Mona just sat cross-legged on a mound of snow. Hunter fit himself between some jagged rocks. Any Yetis that tried to grab him received a sharp jab from his pickaxe. Kitty swung her sword from side to side, mostly not accomplishing much, but occasionally delivering a small blow to one of the beasts. One of her jabs ended up wedging her sword in the icy wall though. A crack sprouted from it. The tremor caused a small chunk of the ice on the ceiling to fall down.

"Aha, I've got an idea!" Kitty called

"This had better be a good one," Hunter called back as he was having a harder and harder time fending off the oncoming monsters.

"We need to cause a cave-in," Kitty said. "That will put a stop to all of them at once."

"Right and…how exactly do you propose this?" Hunter asked.

"Well you're the one with the axe," Kitty said. "This cave is ready to crumble with the right amount of force."

"That's great and all but in case you hadn't noticed I'm a bit occupied here," Hunter said.

"Hm…we need a distraction!" Kitty exclaimed.

One of the Yetis had spotted Mona by now and slapped her angrily, knocking her against the side.

"Oh…" Mona said. "I was trying to take the pacifist route, but clearly you have no respect for the code of war. You have brought this upon yourself."

Mona walked up to the Yeti and angrily stamped her kettle on its foot. The Yeti cried out and pain and grabbed his foot. As he stumbled backwards he toppled into another Yeti and caused a domino effect as they collided with each other.

"Well, that'll do," Kitty said. "Get to work!"

Hunter grabbed his pickaxe and began to swing against the side of the cave. Crack began to form all over with each strike.

"It's working!" Kitty exclaimed.

"We'd better be ready to get out here," Hunter said with another firm blow.

The Yetis were getting out and coming for them again. With a final strike the entire cave trembled.

"Let's make a run for it!" Kitty exclaimed.

The three ran through a tunnel. The Yetis tried to follow by the entire cave came crashing down all over. Their large bodies made it much more difficult for them to escape and they ended up buried. The three reached another cavern and flopped into the snow as the tunnel behind them fell apart.

"Whoa…look," Kitty said as she pointed forward.

The cavern was full of all sorts of items piled up in a massive hoard. At the top was a young girl tied up. She had shaggy black hair and wore a brown coat. She had pale skin and a delicate face stricken with terror. Mona climbed up to her and untied the ropes.

"You poor girl, you look like you could use some tea," Mona said as she poured some tea.

"I take it you must be Chireen?" Hunter said.

The girl nodded mutely.

"Well we rescued you!" Kitty exclaimed. "Hooray you're safe now!"

"Hunter!" Chris's voice echoed through the chamber. "For defeating the Yetis, you have earned your place in the next stage! Mona, for rescuing Chireen, you have also earned your place next to Hunter!"

"Hey!" Kitty exclaimed. "I was involved too!"

She got no response though.

"Fine, I'm sure there's got to be some other treasure in here," Kitty said as she began to dig through the piles.

She tossed aside old socks, a piece of frozen meat, a book full of odd sketches, and eventually held up what looked like a mirror. The edges were sleek ripples giving it a wavy border. The center appeared to be made of glass, yet the image was blurred and contorted.

"What kind of useless mirror is this?" Kitty said as she tried to adjust her hair. "I look hideous."

She experimentally tapped the glass, but instead her finger went through the material as if it were liquid.

"Okay, that's weird," Kitty remarked.

She felt a force tugging at her. Her hand, then her arm were pulled into the mirror. She couldn't fight the current. Her head was pulled in next and from there her whole body followed. Once she had completely vanished the mirror shattered to pieces.

"And now Kitty has gotten her safety by traveling through the Mirror of Mystery!" Chris announced.

"Wait what?" Hunter said. "Where'd she go?"

"Well, judging by the name," Mona said, "I would propose that it's a mystery."

Chireen tugged at Mona's sleeve.

"Can I go home now?" she asked innocently.

* * *

(Ocean)

Garfield and Todd continued to struggle in the pool of water.

"We're dead, bro!" Todd cried.

"Don't say that," Garfield said. "We can still get out of here, we just have to figure something out."

"There is no use resisting," the possessed Beatrice sneered. "You have no chance."

Suddenly Beatrice was knocked against the rock wall as Judie swung in against her with a flying kick.

"Aha! I knew I sensed something big and evil in here, and so what do I find, but some great evil force possessing the body of some girl whose name I can't recall!" Judie exclaimed.

Beatrice let out a low growl as her hands glowed blue. She began to fire a blue stream from her arms at Judie. Judie swerved from side to side though as she got closer to Beatrice. She grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her against the wall.

"Aha! I actually didn't forget your name, Beatrice Hortense Norton, I was only saying that to lower your expectations of me which you did and you got careless and now you are in the power of the Nighthawk!" Judie exclaimed.

Beatrice fired another blue beam and shot Nighthawk back.

"I am Nereisa, Queen of the Sea!" she said in an echoing voice.

"Yeah, that's great, but I AM Nighthawk!" Judie retorted.

"You are nothing!" Nereisa spat.

"I think we've already established that I'm enough to take you down," Judie shot back.

Nereisa attacked again. The water swirled angrily.

"Aah, we're gonna die!" Todd cried.

"Maybe we can work this to our advantage," Garfield said as he struggled with the current.

As Judie continued to dodge the oncoming attacks, some of the stray beams collided with the rock pillars. They began to scratch the surface, allowing some holds to form. Garfield launched himself out and clung to one.

"I think we can get out of here," he called.

He stretched out his hand for Todd. Todd grabbed it frantically and ended up pulling Garfield back into the water.

"Of course, we're going to have to work together," Garfield added.

"Heh, sorry," Todd apologized.

Judie continued to fight with the sea goddess. She moved quickly from side to side, dodging the attacks.

"Arrgh!" Nereisa screeched angrily.

Judie leapt right at her face. She delivered a punch which was blocked, from here the two engaged in a fist fight. Garfield was pulling himself back up again, Todd was following right behind. The two were using whatever they could to cling to the rock pillar and approach the top again. Garfield gripped the edge and used all of his strength to pull his body to the top. He then reached down and helped Todd up. The two boys glanced over at Judie and Beatrice fighting.

"Do you think we should help her?" Todd asked.

"I think she's got this," Garfield replied.

Garfield turned around to face the glowing conch.

"I'm more interested to see what's so important about this," he remarked.

Judie had managed to get behind Beatrice. She sprung on top of her and wrapped her legs around her neck. Using her momentum she flung Beatrice over and sent her sprawling along the ground. Her head slammed against a rock and her whole body quivered. She rolled over and stopped moving, then a pale blue mist emerged from her mouth and evaporated.

"And that's how we do it, Nighthawk style!" Judie boasted.

"Hey!" Todd called. "That's still Beatrice! Is she okay!?"

"Probably not," Judie shrugged.

Todd backed up and made a massive leap over the edge. He managed to just hit the other end and cling to the edge before pulling himself up. He quickly ran to Beatrice's side.

"Hey, hey, Bea, can you hear me?" he said as he inspected her. "Oh man, this doesn't look good."

"Yeah, well she shouldn't have gotten herself possessed then," Judie shrugged. "Oh according to this map, there's a Fountain of Life around here, maybe that will help."

"Give me that!" Todd said as she snatched the map from Judie's hands. "Don't worry, Bea, I'll get you help!"

"Well," Chris's voice announced, "Garfield gets his pass for finding the Conch of the Ocean, and Judie will be moving on to the next stage thanks to taking down Nereisa. I've got nothing for the rest of you."

"Hang on, Bea," Todd said as he lifted the unconscious girl into his arms and took off running.

Todd slid down the side of the rock and landed in the sand. He then began running through it desperately. As he found himself in the middle of the beach, he used his elbows to pull out the map.

"Let's see…uh…gotcha!" he said as he located his target.

He ran up to another large rock monument. This one was sloped liked a hill. It wasn't steep enough to force Todd to climb, but he did have to work hard to keep moving upwards with his burden. He did not stop though, he desperately kept running up until he had reached the top. There he found a vast pool of swirling crystal clear water.

"Huzzah!" he cheered as he tossed Beatrice's body into the water.

"Todd," Chris's voice announced. "For discovering the Fountain of Life you have earned your spot in the next stage of the game…but Beatrice breathed her last breath while being carried up the slope and so this is where her journey ends."

"NOOOOO!" Todd cried as he dropped to his knees. "I'm a failure!"

(Catacombs)

Austin continued to drag Rich through the halls of the catacombs. Rich still struggled and swung his arms and legs about.

"Would you stop that?" Austin scoffed. "It's only going to prolong your inevitable death."

"You know what, that's fine with me," Rich said.

"Don't be like that," Austin replied. "You're dying as a sacrifice! That's so much more worthy than just some plain old death anywhere…might as well go out with purpose!"

The two eventually came to a wide circular room. It was lined with several unlit torches. The floor had a ripple pattern leading inwards. In the center a hilt of a knife protruded.

"Perfect, we're here!" Austin exclaimed giddily.

Austin dropped Rich on the floor and ran for the hilt. He pulled it out to reveal a short but sharp dagger. He grinned maniacally at the sight of it. Rich though was untangling himself and making a final attempt to escape. Once Austin returned to him he delivered a kick to his shin. Austin winced and fell back, while Rich made a run for it.

"Oh, stop being so difficult," Austin pouted.

Austin wielded his new weapon and chased after Rich. He leapt after the boy and pounced on him, dragging him to the ground. Rich rolled over and kicked him in the chest. Austin backed up and grabbed Rich by the foot, dragging him back to the center of the room.

"It has to be right here, this is where it has to happen," Austin insisted.

Rich continued to struggle, but Austin brought down his dagger. Rich tried to hold him back, but Austin won out and dug the dagger straight into Rich's heart.

"Ha! Hahaha!" Austin laughed victoriously. "At last!"

"Rich," Chris's voice announced, "this is sadly the end for you, you will not be continuing on to the next stage."

A white light shot through the cracks of the bricks on the floor, giving even more of a ripple effect. The torches all light up one by one. Then the center of the room where Rich's body still lay burst open with light. When the light cleared he was faced with a young woman. She had jet black hair with a golden band keeping it all above her face. She had tanned skin and wore very little to cover it, other than strips of gold all over her body. Her body seemed not entirely solid, like a transparent image fading in and out of reality. Austin quickly bowed for her.

"You are the one who freed me?" she said with firm voice; strong but not antagonizing.

"At your service, My Lady," Austin said.

"I am Mileva," the girl said, "Queen of all Evil, Mother of Monsters, at long last I am free. The world is about to burn once more! You and I are going to have fun together."

She grinned a wicked smile at Austin as she approached him.

* * *

(Field)

Jacquie awoke in a bed.

"Huh?" she said as she got up and looked around.

"Oh good, you're awake," Caleb said as he came to her side. "How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, fine," she groaned. "Just a little sore."

"This is Sylvander," Caleb introduced as the other boy approached.

"Ah, glad to finally make your acquaintance," Sylvander said. "Words cannot express how grateful I am for you protecting Gillian. You are truly a noble soul."

"Well…sure, it was nothing," Jacquie replied awkwardly.

"And I see you are skilled the sword," Sylvander continued. "That will be most useful for our next venture."

"Next venture? Where are we going?" Jacquie asked.

"You see…the world is in danger, not just our town here," Sylvander explained. "Everyone more and more monsters are sprouting up and more aggressive than ever. Long ago a dark demon was sealed away…but I fear these events are signs of her return…and it will only get worse. We need to travel to this temple and reseal away this demon."

"Whoa, that's terrifying," Caleb said.

"That's exciting!" Jacquie said the same time.

"I would be honored to have warriors like you as my side," Sylvander said. "We will leave as soon as we're ready. Rest up, you'll need it."

With that Sylvander left the room.

"Well," Jacquie said, "Not going to lie, he's really hot. You think I might have a chance with him?"

"Uh…you realize he's a virtual simulation, right?" Caleb said.

"Perfect, so he has no shot of breaking my heart!" Jacquie exclaimed.

Further out in the field, Raven and Azazel were still following the map.

"We've got to be getting close by now," Raven said. "We've been travelling forever."

"Is that what we're looking for?" Azazel said as he pointed to a form in the distance.

"I don't see anything better," Raven replied.

The two kept moving for it. As they neared it, the shape began to turn into a large log.

"That's definitely important," Raven declared.

She picked up the pace and moved towards her goal.

Once she had reached the opening she heard Chris announce, "Raven, for making it to Mystic Hollow, you will be moving on to the next stage…but there's no room for Azazel, no more goals to reach which means your journey is done!"

Raven turned to her friend sadly.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't realize…"

"Don't fret over me," Azazel said. "Take my strength and let it carry you farther into this game."

With that Azazel disintegrated into dust.

"Six have fallen short!" Chris announced, "but twenty-four are still in this journey, and will be moving out of this simple stage onto the blood bath waiting for them…where will this journey take us next? There's much more to see so you'll want to watch more…Total…Drama…Fantasy!"

The camera zoomed out again. It moved to the city to show Caleb and Jacquie with Sylvander packing a wagon. Then it soared to over the forest where Rudy and Toad were taking off into the air in the craft powered by flower propellers. Next it moved to the mountain where Mona was carrying Chireen as she and Hunter trekked back down towards the village. It left the mountain and shot down to the ocean where Portia was perched on the edge of the pirate ship as it tore through the water. Lastly it came to a vast desert with Missy standing in the middle just taking in her surroundings.

(To Be Continued…)

 _Author's Note: So there you have it, the first phase! Not sure what I'll do next, one portion at a time, or another clump update once I finish all of phase 2. Let me know what you think though!_


	6. Chapter 6

(Forest)

Annie gazed up at the massive hollow log.

"So…this is what I've been looking for?" she said. "Was expecting a bit more fanfare, I guess."

Annie took a step inside the log, but quickly backed out when she saw a silhouette emerging from the other side.

"Ah, danger!" Annie gasped as she clung herself against the side of a tree.

As the person emerged, Annie attacked from her hiding place. She tackled the intruder and pinned them to the ground.

"Gotcha!" Annie cheered.

"Get off of me!" the hooded figure exclaimed as she struggled.

She managed to break free and the two girls engaged in hand to hand struggle.

"Hey, stop, cut it out," the hooded girl said. "I'm not here to hurt you. We're both real people here, on the same side."

Annie ceased her attack but kept her eye on the new stranger.

"I've got my eye on you still!" Annie warned.

"That's great," the girl said as she dusted herself off. "My name's Raven. I just came to this log, and it seemed to complete my goal, I guess this is where I'm supposed to be."

"Oh no way, same!" Annie exclaimed. "Welcome to…uh, not sure what this place is called…but it's a forest, that's for sure!"

"You don't say," Raven said sarcastically. "Well back where I was we had this gross herd of goblins. Anything I should be worried about here?"

"Just untrustworthy sneaky boys!" Annie said.

"Huh?" Raven asked.

"This jerk tried to get me and my friend killed!" Annie said.

"Really? What did he look like?" Raven asked.

"Um, brown hair, freaky tattoos, some weird star thing on his shirt," Annie listed.

"Duke?" Raven said. "That sounds like someone from my season. He was brothers with my…friend. And believe me, he seemed like a troublemaker to me."

"Well he's probably dead now," Annie said. "We can hope at least!"

Deeper in the forest, Roquette was still incredibly wounded from her fight with the ogres. She dragged herself along the forest ground, very little strength left in her body. She was covered in bruises now, it hurt all over with the slightest movements. Her vision began to fade as she collapsed in the dirt.

"Oh, you don't look so good," she heard a voice say.

When she recovered she saw a friendly face looking over her.

"Wha-?" she moaned.

"There ya go!" Montana exclaimed. "Was worried about you for a sec there, right!"

Roquette tried to move, only to find she was on a branch high above the ground.

"Whoa!" she gasped as she quickly regained her balance.

"Yeah, you didn't exactly choose the best place to pass out, right," Montana said, "All sorts of nasty things down there, right!"

"I'm sorry…who are you?" Roquette asked.

"Montana's the name!" the girl exclaimed. "Consider me a friend!"

Roquette tried to get up again.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," she said.

"You should probably rest up some more," Montana said. "Don't know what happened to you, but you took a nasty beating and could use some help. Truth is, I'm in the market for a new friend anyways, so it's win-win!"

Down in the underground, Duke was inspecting the bulb he had picked up. Suddenly, it opened up and sprouted. Vines poured out of the tip, latching on to Duke's arm.

"Aah!" the boy cried as he tried to shake it off.

It was too late though, the vines wrapped themselves up his shoulder and along the side of his body. More and more kept twisting around until his entire left arm was covered in the green plants.

"What the hell!?" he exclaimed in shock.

Next the room began to shake. The top of the area began to spiral and open up. Suddenly a thin boy was dropped down next to Duke.

"Aah!" he screamed. "Where am I? The Mole People got me, didn't they!? I knew I was getting too close to the truth, you saw the signs, Eliot, you saw the signs, why didn't you back off!? Stupid!"

"Uh…hi?" Duke said.

Eliot spun around to see Duke.

"Aah! Sewer Mutant, even worse!" he cried.

"Hey, I'm no mutant," Duke said, "I'm just—"

Suddenly the vines on his arm came to life again and began to wrap around Eliot.

"Oh no, this is just like the time I got abducted!" Eliot cried. "No not again!"

Eliot struggled, but the vines refused to let go, and just like Duke, the right side of his body was soon entangled. When the vines settled, the toys linked.

"Well, this is awkward," Duke remarked.

* * *

(Mountain)

Hunter and Mona returned back down the mountain where they could see the village.

"It's there, it's there!" Chireen cheered eagerly as she pulled Mona by the hand.

As the group neared, the old man, Shain, emerged from his home.

"Chireen!" he gasped as he dropped to his knees.

"Papa!" Chireen cried as she ran into his arms.

"Really melts you heart, doesn't it?" Mona remarked to Hunter.

"I suppose," Hunter replied stoically.

"I am forever in your debt," Shain said to the two.

"A good deed is its own reward," Mona replied.

"Yeah, it's not like you'd have anything we'd actually want," Hunter added.

"It's true, I have very little to offer," Shain said. "But I think I know where you two might belong."

"Did you hear that, Hunter?" Mona said in awe. "Some people can go their whole lives without ever finding where they belong."

"There's a fortress if you follow the pass just along through there," Shain directed. "It's the heart of the Mountain Kingdom, they have been in charge of protecting all of us from the monsters…something that has been becoming more and more difficult. General Jodeina would surely appreciate two heroes such as yourselves to assist in the endeavor."

"Well, that seems awfully plot-driven," Hunter remarked.

"Come on, you heard him," Mona said, "We're heroes! Let's go meet our destiny!"

Deeper in the caves, someone else was emerging. Ilona pulled herself upwards as she climbed through the rock passages.

"Where am I now?" she asked as she looked around at the icy caverns she had entered.

Looking back she decided her only choice was to keep moving forward. She winced slightly in pain, still sore from her last encounter with the monster of the catacombs. She kept moving though, exploring deeper into the new terrain.

Down below at the base of the mountain, the herd of Goblins from the Field were marching up towards it. They had packed up their camp and banded together again, marching up along the path leading up to the snowy caps. Now though they carried a wooden throne with Mel sitting atop it.

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "I'm taking charge here! I knock out your leader and I'm the new head honcho! Now march! March! It's time to do some REAL damage. Ha!"

Far over on the other side, a stream flowed straight through the mountain course. A ship just happened to be following this stream.

"Arg, there be only so much treasure in the sea," Captain Crazybeard said as he stood on the edge of his ship. "Tis time we broaden our horizons and seeks the untouched bounties of the mountain!"

"S-s-sounds great, C-c-captain," Portia said while shivering from the cold.

"Ye might want to be put one of these on," the captain said as he kicked over a chest full of fur coats. "I had these on hand just for a time like this, yar har har!"

Several other crewmates awkwardly laughed along.

"What are ye laughing at!?" Crazybeard snapped as he glared at the culprits. "It wasn't even that funny!"

Crazybeard grabbed three of his men and tossed them over the edge. They hit a slab of ice floating in the water.

"Hm, tis true that this new weather makes some things more tedious," he remarked.

He then grabbed an anchor and tossed it overboard. The heavy item smashed through the ice and caused the men to sink down into the frigid water.

"That's better!" Crazybeard exclaimed. "Yar har har…well!? Laugh ye spineless scallywags!"

The crew all lightly chuckled uncertainly.

* * *

(Beach)

Calvin emerged from the chest he was hiding in tentatively. He glanced around at the destruction of rubble around him.

"Attention Duskowl, come in, Duskowl!" Calvin heard Judie's voice coming from somewhere. "This is Nighthawk, I repeat, this is Nighthawk. Do you copy!?"

Calvin glanced around in confusion. He found the sound seemed to be coming from a coconut in the sand.

"I repeat, this is Nighthawk, do you copy, Duskowl?" the coconut emitted with Judie's voice. "Come in, Duskowl."

"Uh, Judie?" Calvin said as he picked up the coconut.

"Use my codename, idiot!" Judie snapped. "We can't have the enemy figuring out our identities, they have ears everywhere, which is easier than you might think since everyone is the enemy!"

"So uh…why are you in a coconut?" Calvin asked.

"I'm not in the coconut, you twitwit!" Judie scolded. "I just had the foresight to set up a Coconut Radio in the event that we were split up. Now, status report!"

"Well, uh, I found the treasure," Calvin said.

"Mhm, mhm, that's nice, Nighthawk was busy taking down an evil entity, but treasure that's nice too," Judie replied, "Except it's NOT! What are we going to do with virtual gold? HM!? Buy some virtual real estate!? Cause I don't know about you, but I prefer my real estate to actually be REAL!"

"Okay, chill," Calvin said, "You're the one who sent me on this mission."

"Stop trying to make this about me and just accept your own flaws that keep holding you back!" Judie retorted.

"Hey, I'm still here, aren't I?" Calvin said.

"Regrettably so, which means you must really want to be my protégé," Judie said.

"Hi friend," someone said from behind Calvin.

"Ah!" Calvin exclaimed as he turned around.

He tossed the coconut in the air and saw Teddy standing behind him with a bright smile. The coconut came back down and landed in Teddy's arms.

"Whatcha got there?" Teddy asked as he turned the coconut around in his hands. "Talking coconut, eh? Hi talking coconut! What's up!? Wanna talk? My name's Teddy, let's be friends!"

"We've been compromised!" Judie exclaimed. "This message will self-destruct."

"That's not good!" Teddy said as he tossed the coconut back to Calvin.

"Wait, what!?" Calvin said as he instinctively grabbed the coconut.

It then exploded in his face, leaving his hair shot back and his face black.

Up in the sky, Rudy and Toad were flying in the plant craft. They sat supported by the intertwined vines and roots while two large flowers spun like propellers.

"I've always wanted to see the sea," Toad remarked wistfully. "My brothers never wanted to leave the swamp though. Guess now I can finally see the shores for myself!"

"Yeah, screw them," Rudy scoffed. "And I'm betting we might find some more of those losers. Maybe we could feed them to a shark or something."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Toad exclaimed eagerly.

"Oh, look, there's one now," Rudy said as he pointed to Todd standing over the edge of the Fountain of Life.

"Alright, Todd," he said to himself as he looked out on the beach from his high point. "I may have failed to save Beatrice, but from now on, no more failures! I'm gonna be a winner! Look out world, there's a winner coming your way!"

Suddenly he was pegged in the back of the head by the flying craft.

"Heh, got him!" Rudy chuckled as Todd sprawled down the rocky slope.

"Ow…" he groaned as he hit the sand. "Still winning!"

The camera then panned over to the water and submerged. Going deep down into the darkness where it showed a cave. Inside luminescent lifeforms lined the walls, showing shelves and piles of bottles, plants, and other mystical items. In the center of the room was a young woman with a slimy sea-green fish tail. She had tangled brown hair full of seaweed and other aquatic plantlife. Her face was fixed in a nasty snarl.

"Mother…Mother, where are you?" she said while dipping her sharp green nails into the water. "Argh! Don't tell me those pathetic humans were too much for you!"

She grabbed a bottle and tossed it against the wall where it shattered.

"They will pay for this!" she screamed.

Suddenly something in the pile of items behind her began to light up.

"Hm," she said curiously as she went over to investigate.

She cleared away some of the blockage to reveal a wavy mirror seemingly coming to life with light.

"This old thing?" she remarked curiously. "It hasn't done anything for…since as long as I can remember…"

Suddenly a form started to emerge from the liquid glass. A girl with blonde pigtails flopped out of it and landed before the woman.

"Whoa," the girl gasped. "A real mermaid!"

"Silence, human!" the mermaid hissed as she clutched Kitty on either side and glared into her face. "I am Leira, Daughter of Nereisa, Princess of the Sea, and I WILL have my vengeance on your disgusting race!"

"Selfie with a mermaid!" Kitty exclaimed as she pulled out of her phone and snapped a photo of the two of them together.

* * *

(Catacombs)

BonBon and Neil fell through a series of tubes. Crashing into corners, turns, and often each other, their journey was filled with various grunts of pain. Eventually Neil rolled out of a hole and landed on a hard rock landing.

"…Ow," he moaned.

"INCOMING!" BonBon exclaimed before landing on Neil and crushing him beneath her weight.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," she said as she got up and dusted herself off. "Thanks for breaking my fall, there, Bucko! You're a real pal, you know that!?"

Neil just moaned incoherently as he got up.

"Where are we now?" he asked. "And better question, what sort of messed up torture do we have to face now?"

"Aw, we've got nothing to worry about!" BonBon reassured as she slapped Neil on the back. "Now while I've got my super cool slashy sword of cuttingness!"

BonBon began swinging her Ice Blade wildly while making various battle cries. She stopped when she came just within slicing Neil's nose.

"Yeah, could you not with the reckless swordplay?" Neil suggested.

"I was just showing my total self-control!" BonBon said. "Yep, ain't nothing to worry about when BonBon's in control!"

BonBon gave a victorious twirl but ended up only slapping Neil against the wall.

"Oops!" she said. "That one was my bad, bud!"

Up above the underground maze, Missy was walking through the sand. That's all she saw, just endless heaps of sand. She walked through it, but just seemed to be walking in place, for all she ever saw was more and more sand.

"Ugh, where is everyone!?" she cried out. "How am I supposed to make friends when there's no on around!?"

She dropped down to her knees desperately.

"No, I won't give up, giving up is just the first step in losing!" Missy said with determination. "I'll just invent my own friend!"

She grabbed a handful of sand and began packing it together until she had a small mound of her own. Then she tossed a pocket of glitter on it.

"There, my own personal touch!" she said proudly. "How do you do, Mr. Sand?"

The sand, naturally, said nothing.

"Aw, Mr. Sand, I understand if you're shy, but we're friends now!" Missy said. "Go ahead, you can tell me anything."

She still got no response.

"Mr. Sand, I am trying my best here," Missy said. "Maybe you don't want to talk, but it's not always about what YOU want, can't you think about others for once in your life!? A single word, just a single hello, do you know who much effect that would have!? And it would take no work at all from you! If you don't give me a hello when you so easily could then you are nothing and I mean NOTHING but selfish!"

The sand chose to be selfish.

"That's it!" Missy cried. "I will NOT be friends with such an impolite cur!"

Missy began to pound on the pile of sand and caused it to disperse into the air along with the glitter she had added to it. She ended up choking and coughing on the cloud of dust and glitter. While gagging she rolled backwards and ended up stumbling down a dune.

"This isn't over!" she threatened to the sky while lying on her back.

Further along the desert, the wagon containing Caleb, Jacquie, and Sylvander was being pulled by a small sturdy horse. Sylvander was sitting with Caleb.

"So, we'll need to find you a weapon," Sylvander said to Caleb. "This battle will not be easy, and you'd best start trying to hone your skills."

"Hm, I've never been too fond of violence," Caleb said.

"Understandable," Sylvander said. "Unfortunately, sometimes it cannot be avoided, and if you wish to do good then you'll need to be ready to fight. I saw you out in the field, you had what it took…"

"I'll do what I can," Caleb said.

"Hm, I recall you had a stick in your hand back then," Sylvander said. "Of course, that won't be enough out here, but…I might have something for you…"

Sylvander walked over to the side of the wagon and pulled out a long, gnarled staff. He handed it to Caleb.

"Seems like a nice fit," Caleb said as he spun it around in his hands.

"It's more than just a stick, though," Sylvander said, "It's imbued with magic. If you're willing to do a little reading, you might be able to learn how to harness that power."

"Fascinating," Caleb said.

Sylvander went back out to direct the horse, and allowed Jacquie to sidle up next to Caleb.

"Soo…what were you two talking about?" she asked. "Did you mention me? Were you sure to tell him that I won Total Drama Switcheroni?"

"What has gotten into you?" Caleb said with a mocking smile. "I've never seen you this…off your game, before."

"Hey," Jacquie said, "so maybe I haven't had the best luck with relationships in the past; I think I've finally found someone I could have a shot with."

"He's not a someone, he's a robot," Caleb pointed out.

"Okay, so it's like practice for the real thing," Jacquie justified.

* * *

(The Sky)

Chris's head appeared for all 24 remaining contestants to see.

"Greetings, adventures!" Chris announced. "Congratulations on surviving 'Easy Mode,' it's time for you all to enter the next stage though! The name of the game is war! This will be a free-for-all among all of you divided up by regions. Your goal is simply to defeat the others. Once someone has been killed from each region then the survivors will move on to Phase Three…but keep in mind, you're not limited to one death per region, so don't get comfy! That is all, have fun!"

* * *

(Forest)

"Oh," Annie remarked after hearing the announcement, "I guess that means…"

She turned to narrow her eyes at Raven.

"…We're enemies now!" Annie finished before charging at Raven with her hands outstretched.

Raven stepped aside and allowed Annie to crash straight into a tree. Raven grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back.

"Or, consider this," Raven said. "We could still work together. We can't be the only ones here, there's no reason we can't just team up and combine forces."

"Oh yeah, that works too!" Annie said.

Over in the swamp shack, Crock had discovered Rudy's escape. A battered Newt explained in shame.

"He escaped!?" Crock yelled. "You were supposed to guard him! How did you fail that one simple task!?"

"Well I…uh…he…I don't know, he did a thing!" Newt protested.

"And where is Toad?" Crock demanded. "TOAD!"

"Disappeared too," Newt said. "Maybe the human got to him! What about Dragon? Why isn't he back yet!?"

"Urgh!" Crock groaned as he punched a wall. "These humans are proving to be bigger pests than we thought! We can't keep letting them run rampant in OUR land!"

* * *

(Mountain)

On a cliff along the mountain side a blue crystal began to form. It continued to grow and take shape until it was in the exact shape of a human body. Then it shattered open and revealed Garfield holding the glowing blue conch.

"What the…how…did I get here…and where is here?" he muttered in shock.

He glanced at the shell in his hand uncertainly. Then the cold struck. He shivered and began to walk along the ledge. He could see the outlines of a village through the snow. He set his sights on it and made it his destination.

Moving to the same destination from the opposite direction came Mel with the Goblin army.

"That's right, keep moving!" Mel ordered. "You heard the man, it's war now, we've got conquering to do!"

One of the goblins made a gibberish remark to his comrade.

"Hey, you want some of this!?" Mel snapped as she struggled to wield the mace. "No? Then shut up and keep moving!"

* * *

(Beach)

"Whoa, so this is a beach?" Teddy exclaimed as he explored his new surroundings while Calvin washed off his face. "We've got sand…and water…and little seashells! Yep! Definitely a beach! Doesn't get any beachier than this!"

"So…how exactly did you get here?" Calvin asked.

"Hm…well first I was in some underground subterranean catacombs thingy-ma-whatchit!" Teddy recounted. "And there were all these zombies, and they were all—"

Teddy mimicked the slow walk of the zombies for Calvin.

"Uh-huh, that doesn't really answer anything," Calvin replied dryly.

"Well, then I grabbed this flute thing," Teddy continued, "and I played this wicked tune and things got all wish-crash-boom-spin! And here I am!"

"Right," Calvin remarked. "Well, the way I see it we've got two options here: We can either try to kill each other, or work together. And I'd suggest you take the latter."

"Why? Afraid I would beat you?" Teddy said with a smile. "Cause I would!"

"What!? No!" Calvin protested. "I could totally kick your ass!"

"Okay, try me!" Teddy said.

Calvin tried to punch at Teddy, but the boy moved out of the way quickly.

"Too slow!" Teddy taunted. "Now I'm over here…so close! So very close that time…oop…almost!"

"Arg!" Calvin shouted as he kept trying to grab Teddy.

Teddy then performed a flip through the air and wrapped his legs around Calvin, flipping him on his back and landing on top of him.

"Looks like I win!" Teddy exclaimed.

At that moment, a coconut rolled towards Calvin's head.

"Attention, Duskowl," Judie's voice said, "You are a disgrace to your name! This message will now self-destruct."

The coconut exploded, knocking both the boys through the sand.

"Okay, sure, we can work together!" Teddy said to Calvin.

Meanwhile, Rudy and Toad had landed their ship in the sand. Rudy got out eagerly.

"I know I saw some of those suckers just over there," he said. "Let's get a trap ready and then—"

He glanced over to see Toad much more intrigued with the tide. He was entertaining himself by moving back and forth to avoid the waves washing up along the shore.

"Heh, this is neat!" he exclaimed.

"Or you could just do that," Rudy remarked. "Why not."

* * *

(Catacombs)

The wagon continued through the desert. As it did, though, it began to hit more bumps and the ride became more and more rocky.

"That's strange," Sylvander remarked. "I don't know what could have—"

However, the quaking only got more violent as undead hands emerged from the sand and grabbed at the vehicle. Hands turned to body and soon the trio was surrounded.

"Looks like we'll have to fight!" Sylvander said as he drew his bow.

Jacquie drew her sword and Caleb clutched his staff. Sylvander climbed atop the wagon and began to fire at the oncoming corpses. Jacquie emerged and began to slash at the creatures. Caleb joined her and fended them off with his staff. The group was able to reduce their numbers fairly quickly and easily through their joint efforts.

"This is definitely a sign of Mileva's power," Sylvander said. "We are getting close, which means we should be especially careful."

From behind a dune, Missy spotted them and watched.

"Hello, new friends," she said to herself.

Down below, Austin was still in awe of the new spectral entity he had unleashed.

"Unfortunately, I have very little power left inside of me," Mileva recounted. "All of it has faded away after eons of imprisonment…but you can help me."

"Of course, anything for you!" Austin said.

"You and I are bound," Mileva explained. "I am still unable to reach a corporeal form, you may only see and hear me because of our bond. But I still have just enough power for now, and you can help me grow stronger."

"Your wish is my command!" Austin exclaimed.

"Come," Mileva said as she guided Austin back outside of the round room. "There is much we must accomplish…"

(To be continued…)


	7. Chapter 7

(Forest)

Duke and Eliot continued to eye the plantlike bond that connected their arms.

"Well, we're going to have to do something about this," Duke said as he began to tear at the vines.

"No, no, no cut it out!" Eliot cried in panic as Duke continued to pry with little success.

Eliot slapped him off of continuing his attempt though.

"We are clearly dealing with organic material here," Eliot said, "we have no clue what sort of biology exists in here! Being reckless could cause irreparable damage not just to this thing but to us as well!"

"Okay so what, you suggest we just let this thing latch onto us?" Duke asked.

"No, that would be just irresponsible," Eliot replied. "We need to remove it…but delicately, with expert hands."

"That's you?" Duke asked.

"I pride myself on my work," Eliot said.

He then hunched over and examined the stalk of vines. He pinched the tip of a thin leaf and tenderly peeled it back. As soon as he tried to tug any harder though it resisted and returned to its place.

"Hm, this could take some time," Eliot remarked.

"We don't have time," Duke insisted. "If someone comes looking upon us, we're going to be sitting ducks like this. If this won't come off on its own, then we'll just have to find something that can fix it. There has to be something out there."

"Not necessarily," Eliot countered. "We are dealing with a complex lifeform, possibly sent her from another planet, awaiting further confirmation on that part, it could—"

"Dude, it's a video game," Duke said, "just trust me on this, there's a remedy waiting for us, we just have to find it."

Up above the surface and in the tree, Montana was resting Roquette in crossing branches in the leaves.

"I'm really fine," Roquette said as she tried to get up.

"You're really not," Montana insisted as she pushed her back to sitting down. "If you go running around doing…whatever it was you were doing, you're gonna get yourself killed. Just stay here and I'll use my expertise in botany to find you something to eat, right! Look, I think the monkeys like you!"

Roquette turned to see a monkey playing with a strand of her hair.

"Okay, let me be more frank," Roquette said. "How exactly do I know you're not just gonna kill me now that we're all in competition? If I stick around here I'm at your mercy.

"Eh, not my style," Montana said with a shrug. "Look, I'm trying to help you here, right. If I wanted you dead I'd just leave you out there crawling on the ground and you wouldn't last an hour. So trust me on this!"

* * *

(Mountain)

Garfield curiously inspected the shell in his hand again, twirling it around.

"Alright, what's your secret?" he remarked.

Not coming to any conclusion, he kept scaling downwards towards the wintery village. As he approached it, though, he noticed other figures marching towards it, a large crowd all together. The closer he got, the more he could make out, and he eventually realized it was a horde of goblins. Mel was still leading them forward.

"That's right, presenting our new home!" she exclaimed. "Show no mercy, leave no stone unturned!"

The goblins charged forward with bloodthirsty cries. Some townsfolk emerged to see the commotion, others stayed behind their doors. The goblins attacked brutally, swinging their weapons about wildly. They smashed windows and broke down doors, throwing anyone who got in their way to the ground. Garfield was horrified to see what was going on and quickly leapt down at a new determined pace.

"Hey! Stop that!" he called.

The goblin heads turned to face him. Mel stepped forward.

"Um, excuse me," Mel said angrily. "I'm the one with the army here! Are you sure you want to be getting in my way?"

"Well, I have brokered peace between several warring communities as part of my global unity project," Garfield said "I'm sure we can come to a friendly agreement if we're just willing to talk it out like civil people."

"Hm…nah, get him boys!" Mel ordered.

The goblins charged for Garfield.

"Very well then, but I also hold the gold medal in multiple martial arts tournaments," Garfield said as he fought off the oncoming goblins with ease.

"Big deal, I'm so scared," Mel said sarcastically. "In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered here."

More goblins surrounded Garfield, they began to clutch his arms, shoulders, and body. He struggled and broke free, backing up. Realizing that more and more were going to keep coming for him, he tried to make an escape.

"Heh, too late for that!" Mel laughed evilly. "You messed with the wrong warlord!"

Garfield scrambled through a narrow passage, but the goblins poured after him. The trampled over each other in their mad chase after the boy. Garfield eventually found himself faced with nothing but a cliff before him.

"Nowhere to run now," Mel cackled. "Well, thanks for giving me a free pass through this stage."

Two of the goblins lunged at Garfield and forced him over the edge.

"Good riddance!" Mel scoffed.

Garfield plummeted through the air, expecting to hit his demise, when suddenly someone grabbed his wrist. In shock he looked up to see Ilona peering out of a hole in the cliffside.

"Hello, Garfield," she said.

Further up, Hunter and Mona were trekking along a steep pass. Mona was playfully dragging her hand through the snow and letting it trickle in her fingers.

"Keep up," Hunter said. "I want to get to this place soon."

"What do you think it will look like?" Mona asked.

"What?" Hunter replied.

"This supposed fort," Mona said. "Do you think it will have spires and walls and a frozen moat?"

"I don't know, maybe," Hunter said as he threw his hands up.

"You like fantasy, don't you?" Mona asked.

"I don't understand what you're gettin—" Hunter tried to say.

"Well, we're living in a real fantasy now," Mona continued, "it just seems to me that you're too concerned with the competition that you might regret not fully appreciating this chance."

"I don't—" Hunter tried to say again.

"Take a look around you," Mona said as she gestured at the heights around them. "Isn't this the thing of imagination? Let's take just a second to experience what we may never see again."

Hunter remained silent as the two just gazed outwardly. They then heard a growling behind them. They carefully turned around in unison to see a snarling polar bear.

"Okay, appreciation time over, it's time to run again!" Mona instructed.

The two frantically fled from the angry animal. The bear gave chase though. The passage narrowed, and their feet threatened to slip repeatedly. Eventually their path ended.

"We'll have to jump!" Hunter said.

"Hold me," Mona said as she leapt into Hunter's arms.

Hunter then leapt down to a lower ledge. He lost his footing though, and the slid down further. The two gripped each other tightly as they tumbled down the snowy slope. Fortunately, they managed to land safely enough in a small valley.

"Well, that was fun," Mona remarked casually as she rolled out of Hunter's arms.

"Polar bears don't even live in mountains," Hunter scoffed. "They belong in the Arctic."

"Behold the powers of imagination!" Mona exclaimed.

* * *

(Beach)

Rudy and Toad crept behind a rock ridge as they spied on Todd. The other boy was marching with determination along the sand.

"Okay, our first victim, let's make this count," Rudy said. "When he comes around the corner I'll go for the feet, you bash his head with this rock. Then we'll bind his limbs together and toss him into the water. If he ever wakes up, he'll be trapped sinking to his death with no way to save himself!"

"Wow, you're so good at this evil thing," Toad remarked in awe.

"I know," Rudy replied smugly. "Now let's get ready."

The two got in position behind a corner in the rock formation. As the shadowed neared the turn they both jumped out. Suddenly, though, they were faced with Judie, not Todd. Judie grabbed the stick that Rudy swung at her legs, and sidestepped out of the way to dodge a crushing blow from Toad. She then swept her leg along Rudy's legs knocking him to the ground and swung the stick at Toad's groin.

"Expecting someone else?" Judie taunted.

"But how did—" Rudy gasped.

"The old trick of bait and switch!" Judie boasted.

 _Flashback:_

 _Judie leapt down in front of Todd right before he turned the corner._

" _Go that way," she instructed as she spun him around._

" _Okay" Todd replied cheerily, continuing his march without missing a beat._

"I thought I saw some sort of beast over here," Judie said, "and the human that could tame him? The only suitable foe for…The Nighthawk!"

"Oh, you're on!" Rudy said as he charged at Judie.

Judie moved expertly, spinning around and attacking Rudy in the back. She knocked him to the sand and pinned him down.

"Well?" Rudy said as he glared at Toad. "Do something!"

Judie narrowed her eyes at the troll.

"Do you really want to try me?" she hissed.

"Um…right," Toad said as he grabbed Ruby by his arm.

He pulled him out and flung him over his shoulder before running away.

"Ha! You can't run from the Nighthawk!" Judie called. "I'm coming after you!"

Once the two had gotten far enough away from her, Toad set Rudy down on the sand.

"What was that about?" Rudy snapped.

"Well…she was scary," Toad admitted.

"You're a hulking monster!" Rudy pointed out. "You could have crushed her!"

"I don't know, she had some pretty smooth moves," Toad said nervously.

Elsewhere, Calvin and Teddy were continuing to walk along the side of the water. Teddy twisted his fife around in his fingers.

"What's that?" Calvin asked as he tried to take it away from the other boy.

Teddy swiped it away, holding it out of Calvin's grasp.

"I think it's what brought me here in that big whushy twister," Teddy remarked. "It's definitely important."

"It looks dumb," Calvin scoffed.

Teddy glanced out at the sea. As he did, everything seemed to flash dark for an instance.

"Whoa," he gasped

"What now?" Calvin groaned.

Teddy glanced over again, and once more he saw the world turn dark; this time he saw a silhouette before his view turned to normal.

"Did you see that!? Did you see it!? Did you, did you, did you!? You HAD to!" Teddy exclaimed eagerly while pointing.

"You're starting to act like a crazy person," Calvin said. "Please stop or get away from me."

"I swear, I saw something!" Teddy insisted.

"Whatever, let's just keep moving," Calvin said, "We can't be the only ones around here."

Teddy looked out at the sea and tilted his head with curiosity.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Austin wandered through the catacombs as Mileva guided him. She took each turn expertly, knowing exactly where she was going.

"Stop here," she ordered. "There's a passage behind this wall."

Austin felt along the wall until he found a hidden crevice. He then slid it open revealing another hall. This one was lined with indents, each one holding an unlit torch.

"I may be bound to you and stuck here for now," Mileva said. "But I have children and minions of darkness all over this land, it is time they learned that my reign has begun again."

"That sounds so exciting!" Austin said giddily. "An entire army! This is like a nightmare come true!"

"Place your hand in the ashes," Mileva ordered. "Together our forces shall reach across the land."

Austin obeyed and suddenly a green flame burst around his hands. He felt its fire, but remained transfixed perfectly in place. His eyes glazed over, as if filling with smoke.

Up on the surface, the wagon continued to traverse over the desert.

"Wow," Caleb said as he looked outwards, "that's…a lot of sand."

"Indeed," Sylvander said. "This demon had to be trapped far from the rest of the world…unfortunately that means finding her tomb will be a most tedious task."

Back inside of the wagon, Jacquie turned around to realize all of a sudden she was not sitting alone.

"Hi friend!" Missy greeted as she smiled and waved.

"Aah!" Jacquie exclaimed in shock. "How did you get in here!?"

The boys turned back to see the intruder as well.

"You're my new friends!" Missy exclaimed. "I just thought we could hang out."

"Oh…kay," Jacquie said uneasily as she glanced back at the boys.

"I bet I know what you're looking for!" Missy said. "The big scary temple full of creepy evil zombies!?"

"Yes," Sylvander said, "That sounds exactly like where we need to be."

"I could show you!" Missy said.

"How?" Caleb asked. "Everything just looks the same out here."

"By following my rainbow glitter footprints, of course!" Missy said. "Come on, let's go!"

The group got out of the wagon and sure enough, a trail of sparkles was laid out for them. They followed the path until Missy stopped them.

"Voila!" she exclaimed as she pulled back the hatch. "What did I tell you!?"

* * *

(Forest)

Crock and Newt continued to pace the floor of their shack.

"Well, those humans still don't scare me," the larger one scoffed. "We just need to be smart. Get them trapped and finish them off for good!"

"Yeah!" Newt chimed in while pounding his fists together. "Let's do it!"

Suddenly a green flame burst in the center of the room. Mileva's face appeared in it.

"Your Majesty!" Crock exclaimed as he dropped to his knees.

Newt just stared in awe, but Crock shoved him down as well.

"Bow, you imbecile!" Crock snapped. "Show a little respect!"

"Where is Dragon?" Mileva demanded. "I entrusted him to keep this forest under my control!"

"He's uh…well um…he's a little…" Crock stammered.

"He's dead!" Newt blurted.

"He's…potentially dead…maybe…" Crock corrected.

"Dead!?" Mileva snapped. "How!? I expected better of him…"

"Well, there's these humans—" Newt began but Crock covered his mouth.

"We're handling it," Crock said.

"Clearly, you cannot," Mileva replied. "But I will see to it that you do!"

The fire stretched out into a tendril and began to wrap around Crock. Suddenly he began growing to a staggering height. His muscles expanded, his tusks jutted out further. Spikes sprouted over his body where there were none before. When his transformation was complete he unleashed a terrifying roar. Even Newt seemed to shake in fear.

"Now, do NOT disappoint me!" Mileva ordered.

In another portion of the forest, Raven and Annie were walking together.

"So, yeah, this is the forest," Annie said as she directed her hands around. "It's…very foresty."

"It's very beautiful," Raven remarked as she looked around.

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it," Annie agreed.

"What is…that?" Raven asked as she pointed ahead.

The girls looked ahead into the darkness where they saw something yellow glowing. Then more of them began to appear. Then as they neared, the yellow specks turned into eyes…eyes on a pack of wolves. The ferocious creatures stalked towards the girls, their faces snarly savagely.

"Um…hi…nice doggies?" Annie said as she backed up nervously.

The lead wolf barked and snapped at her.

"Aah!" Annie cried. "Okay, bad doggies!"

The wolves began to close in on the girls.

"We have to get out of here!" Raven said.

The two took off running, but the wolves broke up into a swift chase. Annie's dress snagged on a root and she tripped. The lead wolf lunged for her.

"Back off!" Raven cried as she swung a branch at it.

The wolf just snapped the branch in its jaws.

"Oh…okay," Raven said in shock.

Annie managed to get back up though.

"Come on," Annie said as she grabbed a low-hanging branch and pulled herself up into a tree. "We'll be safe up here."

Raven tried to climb up, but slipped. A wolf attacked and dug its claws into her back. Annie grabbed her and pulled her up. Her cloak tore off, and the back of her shirt was shredded, but Raven managed to reach safety. The wolves circled around the tree, but found no way to get to the girls.

"Well…that was terrifying," Raven remarked.

"I know right, my heart is pumping now!" Annie exclaimed.

* * *

(Mountains)

Ilona pulled Garfield into the cavern and the two sat against the wall.

"It's good to see you, Ilona," Garfield greeted. "It's been a while."

"It has," Ilona agreed. "Good to see you too. I just barely got out with my life in a disaster of my own."

"The same can be said for me," Garfield said. "And then I wound up here…and it wasn't long before I was running for my life again."

"Taking on an army of goblins?" Ilona asked.

"And there's a player leading them too," Garfield said. "I wasn't going to allow that kind of aggression to go on against the innocent non-playable characters."

"That's very noble of you," Ilona said. "But if she's got an army then we're going to have to be smart about this fight."

"Hm…" Garfield said in thought, "I guess we'll need to come up with a plan then."

"What's that?" Ilona asked as she pointed to the shell in Garfield's hand.

"Oh this? I picked it up back where I started," Garfield said. "I think it might have brought me here…but other than that it doesn't seem to be much more than a plain conch."

"And yet you didn't drop it," Ilona pointed out.

"I…guess not," Garfield said. "Guess it wants to be with me…or a part of me wants it with me."

Meanwhile, Hunter and Mona were trudging through the snow in another narrow pass.

"Well, that detour was certainly unfortunate," Hunter remarked. "Now I've got no idea if we're even going the right way."

"Oh I have an inkling we might be," Mona said.

"And why's that?" Hunter asked.

Rather than saying anything, Mona just pointed ahead. A group of armored soldiers were charging towards them. The soldiers' armor was all white, and it included helmets that masked their faces. As they surrounded the duo they all drew their blades.

"Hold it right there, trespassers!" One of them barked.

"You don't scare me!" Hunter said as he swung his pickaxe through the air.

He glanced at Mona who was just standing next to him placidly.

"Well…do something helpful," he whispered at her.

"Okay," she replied. "We surrender peacefully!"

"What are you doing!?" Hunter snapped.

"Helping to not get you killed," Mona replied. "We are clearly outnumbered her, in form of conflict will only result in casualties, mostly on our side. I'd rather limit that, wouldn't you?"

Hunter sighed as he dropped his weapon in the snow and raised his hands.

"You're coming with us," the leader grunted as he jabbed Hunter in the back, pressing him to march.

"I'm walking, I'm walking, no need to get rough," Hunter groaned.

The soldiers surrounded them and marched them through the pass further. As they turned a corner, the two were presented with a breathtaking view of a white castle carved into the side of the mountain. Its towers rose up towards the sky, delicately built, all of it surrounded by a sturdy wall. The troupe came up to an iron gate which opened for them.

"General!" one of them called as they entered a courtyard. "We have found these intruders outside the wall!"

A young woman turned around. She had dark red hair down up into a firm bun. She wore a blue-green suit, marked with gold medals.

"Welcome to Mountain Kingdom, strangers," she declared as she eyed Mona and Hunter. "I am General Jodeina."

* * *

(Beach)

Kitty had been backed into a corner by the mermaid. Her captor dug through her collection of items, finding torn fishing nets and ropes and wrapping all of it around Kitty's body.

"Look, there's no need for all of this," Kitty said nervously. "We can tal—"

Silence!" Leira snapped as she shoved a rag in Kitty's mouth. "You will be my bait, I'll lure the others down to me…where they'll be at my mercy! AHAHAHAH!"

Suddenly a blue flame burst behind her.

"Ah!" Leira exclaimed as she turned around to face Mileva.

"Where is Nereisa," Mileva demanded.

"My mother has…fallen victim to the human attacks," Leira admitted.

"Ugh! Can't any of my disciples stay alive!?" Mileva snarled.

"I will serve you!" Leira insisted. "I will avenge my mother for you!"

"If your mother couldn't handle this situation then I won't waste any more time with you," Mileva scoffed. "I shall have to reclaim this land myself in due time."

With that the fire disappeared.

"Ugggrgh!" Leira shrieked. "I am not good enough!? Do I not deserve a chance to prove myself!? What have I done wrong!?"

"Aw, I think you're doing plenty good enough," Kitty remarked.

"I said silence!" Leira screamed as she shoved the rag back into Kitty's mouth.

The mermaid clutched the girl by the shoulders and dug her nails into her.

"I WILL prove myself!" she hissed. "All of you will never see the light of day again, and THEN we'll see who gets passed over…ahahhahahAHAHAHAHA!"

Up on the surface, The Tree had wandered over from the forest and found himself on the beach. He was currently caressing a thin palm tree.

"HEY BABY, EVER BEEN WITH A WALKING, TALKING TREE," he said passionately. "I BET NOT BECAUSE I'M THE ONLY ONE IN THE UNIVERSE. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, I'M A PRETTY FREAKING UNIQUE PHENOMENOM! I COULD HAVE ANY TREE OF MY CHOOSING BUT IT'S YOU THAT MAKES MY SAP RUN HOT! SO WHAT DO YOU SAY THE TWO OF US STAND HERE AND PHOTOSYNTHESIZE!"

"Aha!" Todd exclaimed as he wandered across the two. "Evil tree! Unhand that fair maiden…tree."

"WHAT!? HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT THE TREE'S ROMANCING SESSION!?" the tree demanded as he swung his branch angrily.

However, in his rage, he ended up snapping the palm tree in half.

"NOOOOO! SHE'S DEAD!" the three bemoaned as he dropped to what would likely be his knees. "WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME DO THIS!?"

"Oh…uh…I'm…I'm sorry," Todd stammered. "I didn't mean to."

"I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE NOW!" The tree sobbed.

"Yeah…uh…okay…" Todd said as he ran off in the opposite direction.

* * *

(Catacombs)

BonBon and Neil explored the dank temple together.

"Well, we weren't from one endless maze to another," Neil remarked.

"Hey, there's that attitude again," BonBon said. "We're making progress here, who knows what great things we'll find here!?"

Suddenly the walls shook as an army of corpse awoke and emerged.

"You know, sometimes pessimism does get it right," Neil remarked.

"Are you kidding? I've been itching for a real fight!" BonBon laughed as she began swinging her blade ahead of her. "Aha! Oho! Hiya! Take this! And…THAT!"

BonBon chopped through the army easily, reducing them all to bits.

"Hahaha, this is too much fun!" she laughed.

However as she charged forward, the ground below her crumbled. The floor fell away to reveal a deep pit. BonBon dug her sword into the rock wall and clung to it.

"Quick!" she called to Neil. "Help me up!"

"Or…" Neil said slyly as he backed up. "I don't have to do that…"

"You're right!" BonBon exclaimed as she pulled herself out. "I could do it myself! And wouldn't want you falling in after me! Smart thinking, kiddo, I think we're on the same wavelength here, a real working mojo…platonic mojo that is! Don't think I haven't seen the way you're looking at me! I'm flattered at all but this—" BonBon gestured to her body "—is OFF the market!"

"I can assure you—" Neil began.

"Aw, I'm just joshing with you, kid!" BonBon laughed as she shoved Neil obnoxiously on the shoulder. "Now come on, let's keep going, there could be more things to kill!"

Over in the torch chamber Austin and Mileva were continuing to light different torches.

"I have one more message to send," Mileva said as she guided Austin to a torch. "Hopefully this one will prove more successful than the last two."

Austin put his hand in the torch and a purple flame wrapped around him. Suddenly they were taken through space until they were looking at a dark barren cellar.

"Hello!" Mileva announced. "Show yourself! Your Ruler is present!"

Something scurried in the shadows. Then suddenly the creature showed itself, hanging over the flame ominously. It was like a giant rat, though made out of various draping clothes all patched together. Its face was a horrendous ghost-white skeletal face, clearly not human.

"Mileva," it hissed it a deathly voice.

"My Ghoul," Mileva greeted. "Please tell me you have good news."

"Thisss town will be in ruinsss in no time," the creature replied.

"Wonderful," Mileva exclaimed. "At least I can still count on you."

"Assss alwayssss, My Queen," the creature said before vanishing into the shadows again.

Then in an instant, Austin and Mileva were back in the same room. Austin seemed paled from the experience; he dropped to the floor weakly.

"Ugh, what's wrong with me?" he groaned.

"I'm sorry," Mileva said. "My strength is depleted, I needed some of yours for magic like that. But you will feed soon enough."

"You know where we can find food?" Austin asked.

"Something that will make you much stronger," Mileva said. "There is someone near us now…with a deep, dark heart…"

Mileva traced with her finger in the air; an image of Neil walking through the halls appeared before them.

"You're going to kill him and take his heart and consume it for yourself," Mileva declared.

"Can't wait," Austin replied eagerly.

(To Be Continued…)


	8. Chapter 8

(Forest)

"Okay so…one more time, where are we?" Eliot asked.

"Well, we never even talked about that, so I don't know why you're saying 'one more time,'" Duke replied. "But we're deep underground in some forest."

"I see, I see," Eliot said pensively while biting his lip and tapping his head.

"I guess we'd better start digging," Duke said.

"Judging by your use of the words, 'deep' and 'underground,' I'd imagine that would be a fruitless task," Eliot said. "Unless your understanding of those words is vastly different from mine."

Duke ignored Eliot and tried to claw away at some of the dirt. As he did, though, the vines from the left side of his body sprung up and began to burrow through the dirt. When they retracted, the boys were looking at a plantlike passage leading straight up into the sunlight.

"Well, that's convenient," Duke said as he glanced up. "Come on, let's go."

"Now, hold on!" Eliot exclaimed as he resisted. "This tunnel was made by these plants which are clearly alien influenced. Are we really going to play right into their hideously misshapen hands!?"

"Yes," Duke insisted, "now let's go!"

Duke being stronger than Eliot was able to drag the reluctant boy along. The two were soon back on the surface in the middle of the forest.

"See, nothing bad happened," Duke assured Eliot.

"That you know of!" Eliot retorted. "Who knows what sorts of microorganisms are now crawling all over our bodies!?"

The two then noticed a pair of figures walking towards them. Duke got on the offensive, ready to attack.

"I think we've lost them," Raven said as she and Annie emerged through the firms.

The girls stopped when they saw the boys before them.

"You!" Annie hissed as she saw Duke. "I thought you were dead!"

"You wish," Duke scoffed with a smirk.

"I do wish," Annie confirmed.

"Duke," Raven acknowledged. "Figured it was you causing trouble around here."

"Oh good, just who I need to lecture me right now," Duke remarked sarcastically.

"Hi Raven," Eliot greeted.

"Oh hi, Eliot, I was wondering where you'd wound up," Raven remarked. "Well this is a neat little coincidence all of us ending up here together."

"There is NO such thing as coincidence!" Eliot declared dramatically as he jabbed his hand into the air. "Our fates have been laid out…by aliens!"

"And…there's something growing between the two of you?" Raven said uncertainly as she eyed the vegetable bond between the two boys.

"Yes," Eliot confirmed, "also aliens."

"Well, you know what?" Annie said. "Enough chatter, we're in war now and it's time I finished this job."

She charged at Duke aggressively. Duke prepared to fight back, but before he even got the chance, a vine sprouted out of his arm and wrapped around Annie before tossing her away.

"Uh…" Raven said nervously as her eyes followed the writhing tendril. "I'm gonna run now!"

Elsewhere, Montana was exploring a grove full of fruits.

"Ah, just what I was looking for, right," she said as she began to pick some of the berries. "A few of these are just what we need."

She paused, though, when she heard something stomping towards her.

"Well…that's definitely not a good sign, right," she deduced.

Suddenly, the enlarged Crock slashed his way through the trues.

"Human!" he hissed as he eyed Montana.

"Yep! Not good, really not good!" Montana said as she backed up.

Crock swiped at her and Montana backflipped out of the way.

"I'm warnin' ya, right!" Montana exclaimed as she pulled out her boomerang.

She tossed it at the beast, but he just swatted it away.

"Oookay," Montana said, "now's the part where I wish I had a Plan B."

Crock let out another monstrous roar before charging straight for Montana. Montana had to be quick on her feet, dodging from side to side as he savagely clawed at her. She grabbed branches and swung off trees to constantly keep herself out of his reach.

"Hey, heads up!" she exclaimed as she swung herself straight at him.

She landed against his eyes and bounced over his head, sliding down his back and rolling to the ground. She made a mad dash as fast as she could to put some distance between them.

* * *

(Mountain)

"So, you're telling me you're not thieves, but warriors come to fight for my army," General Jodeina said as she marched around Hunter and Mona.

"Exactly!" Hunter insisted.

"And what if I choose not to believe you?" Jodeina questioned.

"What's so hard to grasp?" Hunter asked. "We saved a little girl back in the village, and they told us that you would appreciate our assistance, so here we are! Appreciate us, already!"

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical," Jodeina replied. "Our mission here is to protect, and there are a lot of threats out there, not all of them look like monsters. I can't just believe every story given to me."

"Yes, you can," Hunter said, "that's your job. Your job is to progress this plot for us, not hit us with a roadblock."

"Hunter, Hunter," Mona cautioned. "Let's try a touch of tenderness. Excuse me, Your Generalship, I'm sure we can talk this out peacefully."

"That's not how I do things," Jodeina scoffed. "Here's what we're going to do: A duel right now between us. If you can best me then I'll believe you."

"That makes literally no sense!" Hunter said in exasperation. "What would that even prove? That's just bad writing, I tell you."

"You say you're warriors," Jodeina said. "You say you took down a pack of Yetis…show me!"

Jodeina tossed a sword to Hunter and drew her own.

"This is completel—" Hunter tried to say in his helplessness.

Jodeina attacked though and didn't give him the chance to finish. Hunter had to raise his weapon and deflect her attacks. Jodeina attacked swiftly and relentlessly though. Hunter's only course of action was to block her every move. Hunter just brought his sword up and at different angles to stop every oncoming blow. He found that Jodeina was herding him towards the corner. He eventually tried an attack of his own, but Jodeina quickly defended and then disarmed Hunter. In a smooth motion, she moved her blade up to below his neck. Seeing this situation, Mona reacted quickly.

"Oops!" she said as she tossed her somehow still full kettle at Jodeina, "I seem to have spilled my tea…all over your face."

The scalding liquid burned Jodeina and caused her to stagger in pain. Hunter used the chance to ram into her with his shoulder and knock her to the ground. He then grabbed a blade and pointed it to her.

"Aha! Who's laughing now!?" he exclaimed victoriously.

"Teamwork…I like it," Jodeina remarked with a smile. "Well done, you've passed my test."

"We couldn't have just done a round of Pictionary or something to prove our teamwork abilities?" Hunter sighed.

In the caverns of the mountain, Ilona and Garfield walked together.

"The goblins didn't seem particularly smart," Garfield noted. "Creatures of pure violence and aggression."

"Hm, they likely rely on a leader for any form of order," Ilona remarked. "You said there was a player leading them?"

"Yeah, a girl with black hair and glasses," Garfield said.

"If we can take her out, then they should scatter," Ilona stated. "We're going to want to lure them somewhere that works to our advantage though. If we're out in open, then the numbers will give them the advantage."

The two emerged from the caverns and found themselves on a ledge again looking over the village. The goblins were continuing to lay waste to the town.

"Even if it is virtual, it pains me to see such suffering," Garfield remarked sadly. "Let's get this over with quick."

* * *

(Beach)

Rudy paced furiously around Toad.

"We can't let her get the better of us," Rudy hissed. "No one pushes me around! We WILL have our revenge!"

"Okay, sure sounds good…" Toad said, "but uh…how?"

"We just need to play dirty, get her from behind!" Rudy said.

"But what if she hurts us!?" Toad said.

"Why are you being such a coward?" Rudy demanded. "You didn't have any problem picking on me and Duke back in the forest."

"Well, I like humans better that can't fight back," Toad replied.

"So you're calling me weak now!?" Rudy snapped. "Is that it!?"

"No, no, not at all," Toad insisted. "But all the rough stuff…that was more my brothers' specialty. I was just in it for the fun of it all…I don't actually want to get into a fight."

"Well then what good are you?" Rudy snapped.

"Hm…I think I might be able to help you in a different way," Toad said. "You saw my garden, right? Well I've got something from there that will make you bigger, stronger, faster…you've clearly already got the bloodlust, you'll be as strong as one of my brothers."

"You've got my interest," Rudy said.

Toad reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin vine with green bushy leaves.

"Here, eat this," he said.

Rudy did so eagerly. As soon as he swallowed, he started to groan in pain. He leaned over as his body transformed. He grew and expanded, rising up to Toad's height. His clothes tore and his skin turned a sea green. When the transformation was complete he stood up, now an ogre, just like his companion.

Over along the shore, Teddy had paused to once again fiddle with his instrument.

"Are you coming or not!?" Calvin snapped from up ahead. "Don't tell me you're wasting your time on that thing again."

"I'm not, I think I'm on the verge, the cusp, the threshold of a breakthrough!" Teddy exclaimed.

Teddy held the flute up and peered through the hole. Looking through it, the scene before him changed from the sunny sea to a dark foggy night. Straight ahead of him was an old rotting ship on the water.

"There it is, there it is! See, see! Do you see now!?" Teddy exclaimed eagerly while waving his hands around wildly.

Teddy tried to hold the flute to Calvin's eye, but he shoved him away.

"For the last time, there's nothing there," Calvin insisted.

Teddy pointed the flute further down along the water. As he did he spotted a bridge made out of wreckage. Broken planks and shattered barrels all floating in the water forming a path to the ship.

"Well, you can wait here if you want but I've got an adventure waiting for me!" Teddy said as he ran along the bridge.

"What the…" Calvin remarked, from his view only seeing Teddy run along the water.

Calvin tried to follow after him, but only ended up falling into the sea and having to flounder about into the water until he got back to the sand.

"Well great, now I'm all wet," Calvin groaned. "Thanks a lot, weirdo!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

The group of Sylvader, Missy, Caleb, and Jacquie had descended back into the dreary temple.

"This place is just glowing with dark energy!" Sylvander remarked. "She is growing more powerful by the hour."

"Oh don't get me started on the evil people that were in this temple with me," Missy remarked. "The scum of all humanity, I tell you! It was traumatizing!"

"Thank goodness you survived," Jacquie remarked sarcastically.

"Yes, but good always wins," Missy said sincerely. "You just need to be pure of heart, and I have no doubt that mine is the purest!"

"Well, that makes one of us then," Jacquie replied.

As the group walked, Caleb had kept one of the books and was leafing through it.

"I see you're serious about learning the magic arts," Sylvander remarked.

"Trying to," Caleb said. "It's not the easiest place to read in the dark here."

"I can help with that!" Missy exclaimed. "I came prepared!"

She pulled off one of her antennae and dropped a glow stick out of it which she handed to Caleb.

"Ah, thanks," Caleb said.

"Always happy to do good!" Missy exclaimed with a smile.

Further up ahead and traveling in the opposite direction were BonBon and Neil.

"Anyways, so then I tell my uncle that we need more popcorn," BonBon recounted. "Ha! Get it!"

"No—" Neil replied.

"I'm a riot, I know!" BonBon laughed. "Just another misadventure in my crazy life!"

Above them, Austin and Mileva were spying on them from a passage between the stones.

"There he is!" Austin exclaimed. "His heart will be mine! I'll just need a simple trap and there will be no escape!"

"Look, look, people!" BonBon exclaimed as she pointed ahead. "I love company!"

"Don't get too exciting," Neil said. "Chances are they'll be looking to kill us and get through this phase…assuming it even is people and not another monster attack."

"I'm going in for the kill!" Austin whispered to Mileva.

"Stop!" the demon ordered. "There are others now…too many. Wait for them to separate again."

"I can take them!" Austin insisted.

"Your arrogance is endearing," Mileva said. "But fatal. Never misestimate your opponent, or you will regret it."

Down below, BonBon and Neil were coming up to face the group of Jacquie, Caleb, Sylvander, and Missy.

"You!" Jacquie exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes at Neil.

"Well, isn't this a lovely surprise," Neil said with a smirk.

"Ooh, ex-girlfriend!" BonBon exclaimed. "That's gotta leave some tension!"

"Uh, he also emotionally tormented me and others for an entire season," Jacquie accused. "This guy is bad news!"

"Alright, let's not get judgy," Missy said. "That's just mean."

"I'm not gonna judge, I'm gonna get vicious," Jacquie said as she drew her sword and charged forward. "If someone's got to die this round then I sure as hell will make sure it's you!"

"Not on my watch!" BonBon exclaimed as she deflected Jacquie's attack with her sword.

"I cannot believe you are defending this guy!" Jacquie scoffed. "Caleb, back me up."

"Yeah, he's pretty messed up," Caleb remarked.

"Well, I have no qualm with him, and this is not the fight I came for," Sylvander said. "I would rather not waste our energy here."

"Yeah, you hear that," BonBon exclaimed. "We'll be taking our business elsewhere!"

With that she grabbed Neil and dragged him down a different path.

"Be seeing you soon, Jacquie," he remarked with another smirk.

"You had better hope not!" Jacquie retorted.

* * *

(Forest)

Montana scaled back up the tree and quickly found Roquette again.

"Hey, how you feeling? Better?" Montana asked urgently.

"Uh—" Roquette said as she started to stand up.

"Good enough, we gotta go, like right now!" Montana said as she grabbed Roquette and helped her up.

"What's going on?" Roquette asked as she clutched her bow.

"Let's just say, I think I have a better idea of what you were up against before, right," Montana said. "Now let's go go go!"

"I'm coming for you!" Crock roared as he leapt up the tree, digging his nails into the bark.

"Well…that's new," Roquette remarked.

A group of monkeys began throwing pinecones and others projectiles they could get their paws on at the attacker. He just swatted them aside.

"No, monkeys, do not get yourself hurt in the crossfire!" Montana called.

"So…do you have a plan here?" Roquette asked.

"Bah, plans only fall apart, we gotta act fast, right," Montana said. "Now…do you trust me?"

"Umm…given the current circumstances, I guess so?" Roquette said.

"Good, now hold on!" Montana exclaimed as she lifted Roquette up into her arms.

She then leapt off the branch, just in time to avoid a swipe from Crock. Montana surfed along the side of the tree, before swinging herself to another branch, using her free hand to grab a vine and shimmy down to a loose log. Landing on it caused the log to start rolling along the dirt.

"We're in for a bumpy ride, right!" Montana said as she ran her feet along the log as they billowed through the forest.

Elsewhere, Annie and Raven were huddled in the bushes.

"Alright, we're going to get those two," Annie said to her companion. "Vengeance will be ours! We are winning this thing!"

"Okay, I'm with you on all of that," Raven said. "But…what exactly is the plan here? We can't just charge in guns blazing."

"Sure we can!" Annie said. "Now let's get ready!"

The boys meanwhile were approaching.

"We've got them on the run now," Duke said. "Let's finish them off!"

"Do we need to be so aggressive?" Eliot replied.

"Yes," Duke said. "If we're going to get through this phase alive then we need to make sure someone else takes the fall first."

"Or that could just be getting us killed," Eliot pointed out.

"Nah, you saw them, they're at our mercy," Duke assured.

"Attack!" Annie exclaimed as she charged towards the boys.

"There they are!" Duke said as he ran to meet her.

However as Eliot and Duke distanced themselves, the vine connecting them caught on a tree between them…causing them to be swung together, colliding with each other.

"Now, I've got you!" Annie exclaimed as she pounced on Duke.

Duke instinctively swung his arm to defend himself, but ended up swing Eliot straight into Annie.

"Ow!" Eliot exclaimed. "Please don't hurt me!"

Annie tried to get at Duke, but all of her attacks ended up being received by Eliot.

"Please stop…can we stop yet…guys?" Eliot moaned.

"I'm just gonna…" Raven said as she watched the three get tangled in a mess. "You know, I think you've got it covered."

* * *

(Mountain)

Mel looked over the ruin and chaos caused in the village.

"Ha, none can stand to match my new might!" she boasted. "Alright you cronies, now you're going to build me a throne fit for a queen!"

The goblins paused and glanced around quizzically before returning to smashing everything in sight.

"Ugh, what do I even pay you for?" Mel groaned.

"Yeah!" Garfield called as he leapt down. "Remember me!? I'm back!"

"Ugh, I killed you, you're supposed to be dead!" Mel snapped. "Can't anyone do anything right, here!? Dying is literally the easiest thing you could possibly do and you still failed!"

"I'm not gonna let you get away with this anymore!" Garfield challenged.

"Too bad!" Mel retorted. "I'm going to make sure you stay this dead this time!"

Mel sent the goblin army after him. Garfield took off running.

"Ha, already on the run again, you're pathetic!" Mel taunted.

Garfield weaved through the narrow passes. Mel followed as the horde of goblins chased after him. As they turned a corner they found Garfield had vanished though.

"Come out and fight so we can end this!" Mel called out.

"Up here!" Ilona announced from an upper ledge. "Your power trip is over!"

Ilona leapt downwards, transforming into her motion into a kick directed straight at Mel. She made contact and sent Mel over the edge. Mel managed to cling to the icy side, but her grip clearly wouldn't last.

"Help me!" she cried.

Garfield emerged from his hiding spot behind a rock.

"We should probably help her," he said uncertainly.

"The whole point here was to get rid of her," Ilona said.

"Yeah but…well, there's got to be a more peaceful way here," Garfield said.

He leaned over to reach his hand out to Mel. However, Ilona tossed a stone down which smashed into the icy grip. The rock and ice shattered and then splintered off of the mountain. Mel's hold didn't matter anymore, she was going down either way. She let out a final desperate cry before disappearing into the plummet.

"Sorry," Ilona said to Garfield. "But this is still a competition, someone has to lose, and after what we saw of her, I'd rather it be her than either of us."

"Mel!" Chris's voice announced. "You have been eliminated from Total Drama Fantasy in 24th place…so sorry!"

Over in the stream, Crazybeard's ship was coming into view of the Mountain City.

"Arr!" Crazybeard exclaimed. "There be the most fortified palace…and what are protected fortressed for? Why only one thing: Guarding valuable treasure! Treasure that will soon be mine!"

"Um, Captain?" one of the pirates said. "They're used for other things too."

"Do NOT correct the captain!" Crazybeard snapped as he tossed the pirate over the edge.

"Err…Captain, we seem to be running out of men? Don't you think you might want to cut back on the corporal punishment?"

"Yes! Thank you for stating the obvious, you clout!" The Captain snapped before running his cutlass through the pirate who had spoken up.

Portia climbed down from her perch and walked up curiously.

"You!" Crazybeard barked as he pointed to her. "This will be your first plunder! Are ye ready!?"

"Couldn't be better!" Portia exclaimed. "This is so exciting! I can't believe I'm an actual pirate!"

"Well, any good pirate needs a weapon!" Crazybeard exclaimed as he tossed a pair of swords at Portia.

She caught both of them and swung them around playfully.

"Aha, I am going to be the scourge of the sea…snow…" Portia said. "Look out, here I come!"

* * *

(Beach)

Leira dragged Kitty with her into the vast dark sea. Kitty struggled and had to hold her breath as she was pulled into the water.

"Oh, don't worry," Leira said. "I've enchanted your binds to allow you to breathe…I can't have you drowning just yet."

The mermaid pulled Kitty through the water until they reached a large chasm formed in rock. It opened up into a deep dark abyss, yet it seemed like something was moving in the darkness.

"Heh…you know what…that's okay, we don't have to do the big scary abyss of doom thing," Kitty remarked nervously.

Leira turned to her with an evil look on her face.

"I need something from you," she said.

"Sure, what can I get for you? Money? One of these neato state of the art phones?" Kitty offered.

"I need…your scream!" Leira said before lunging at Kitty and digging her nails into her arm.

Kitty cried out in pain, much to Leira's satisfaction.

Up on the surface, Judie was examining her surroundings.

"Hm," she said as she traced her finger along the sand. "I'm detecting…they went that way!"

Suddenly the mutated Rudy was upon her. He leapt over a rock and slammed down right at her. Judie rolled out of the way, but Rudy's new massive hand swiped out and knocked her aside. Judie tried to recover as she hit the side of another rock.

"Ugh, gotten an upgrade, have you?" she remarked.

"You're not getting the best of me this time!" Rudy said as he swung his fist down at Judie.

Judie flipped out of the way. She charged at Rudy and went for his face, but his reflexes were quicker now. He managed to grab her before she could reach him. He tightened his grip as he held Judie up, her squirming the while.

"Heh, that's right," Rudy chuckled. "Your MINE! There's nothing you can do!"

Rudy brought his hand down, slamming Judie into the sand. She groaned and winced in pain.

"There's…always…something…for the Nighthawk!" Judie grunted before tossing a handful of sand into Rudy's eyes.

He winced in shock. Judie used his confusion to swing her leg under his chin, delivering a firm blow. Rudy's grip loosened and Judie broke free.

"I don't care how big you are," Judie said, "No one, and I mean no one, messes with the Nighthawk!"

By the shore, Todd had come by to see Calvin just pulling himself out of water dripping wet.

"Ah!" Todd exclaimed. "Hang on, buddy, I'll save you!"

Todd rushed over to Calvin and picked him up before flipping him onto the beach.

"Do you need CPR!?" Todd exclaimed. "I don't even know how to perform CPR but I'd be willing to try for you!"

"What the hell are you doing!?" Calvin snapped.

"You were drowning!" Todd exclaimed. "I just saved your life!"

"Uhh…who are you?" Calvin asked.

"Hi, I'm Todd!" Todd greeted. "Hey, what's that!?"

Todd pointed to the sea where something was rising to the surface. It ended up being a large bubble. Inside of it the boys could see Kitty's face.

"There's a girl stuck in there!" Todd exclaimed. "Don't worry, we're coming!"

Todd charged at the bubble and it popped, unleashing its scream.

"Oh no…I crushed her!" Todd sobbed.

"I'm just gonna wager a bet," Calvin said, "and say that in this messed up fantasy world, that's a sign that there's someone down there in the water, probably drowning."

"Then we have to save her!" Todd exclaimed as he stood up with purpose now.

"Um, no," Calvin said, "Does no one understand the concept of this game? We let her die down there, and that's one less person we have to worry about."

"Hmmm….that's not the way I do things!" Todd exclaimed.

"How would we even breathe down there?" Calvin asked.

"Gee, I don't know," Todd realized. "Hey, what's that!?"

Todd pointed to Calvin's pocket which was now glowing yellow.

"That's some pirate treasure," Calvin said, "it's mine, you can't have it!"

"Is it supposed to be glowing?" Todd asked.

"I don't know, probably!" Calvin said.

A pair of small golden orbs rolled out of his pocket and into the water.

"What? No! Get back here!" Calvin ordered. "Don't just stand there, grab them!"

The orbs sank into the sea as both Calvin and Todd dived underwater to grab them. As they submerged into the water though they grew brighter and brighter and began to expand. Calvin let out a confused glug. The small orbs turned into thin glowing golden bubbles that floated up to the boys and wrapped around their heads.

"Whoa!" Todd exclaimed. "I can breathe…and I can talk!"

"Uh…yeah…totally according to plan, my plan," Calvin remarked.

"Now come on, we've got a damsel in distress to save!" Todd exclaimed as he started to swim deeper.

"You know what…" Calvin said under his breath. "Fine, it'll be easier to make sure the both of you never return to the surface."

* * *

(Catacombs)

As the group of four walked through the catacombs, Missy held Sylvander's hand and urged him to keep up with her, leaving Jacquie and Caleb somewhat out of earshot.

"Okay, I didn't say anything before, but I think those two are bad news," she said. "You see like a good person, but those two, no way. Did you see how quick they were to jump on that guy? He wasn't even doing anything, and they just couldn't resist all those personal attacks. Good people don't act like that. You know what, I think they're petty and jealous. Did you know that both of them were the final two in their season? And now they're back for more!? That's just…that's…that's just plain sick and messed up. They had their chance and they think that they're better than the rest of us!"

"Um…pardon me…but I understood nothing of what you are saying," Sylvander said.

"Can you keep up?" Missy hissed. "They're gaining on us."

"Hey guys, wait up!" Caleb called.

"Oh, what's your problem!?" Missy snapped. "Why are you SO obsessed with being right in our personal space all the time!? Do you think we're having secret conversations about you that you just HAVE to hear all that time!? You can't DARE to let us say anything out of reach! You know what that is, that is just sheer paranoia and not very good friendship at all! What kind of friend even are you!? Not a very good one if that's how you treat your friends!"

"Um…sorry?" Caleb said.

"I will consider your apology," Missy huffed as she turned around and stuck her nose up.

Over in another hall, BonBon and Neil were still walking.

"So running into your old pals, eh," BonBon remarked.

"They're nothing to me," Neil replied.

"Well, you're clearly something to them," BonBon said. "Don't worry though, we've got this whole team thing going on, I'm not gonna let anyone ruin my mojo now!"

Suddenly, a rope swung around Neil's leg and dragged him to the ground.

"Aha!" Austin exclaimed as he emerged from the wall, gripping the rope. "You're mine now!"

Austin pulled the rope and dragged Neil towards him.

"Oh no you don't!" BonBon exclaimed as she sliced the rope in half with her sword.

"You do not want to get in my way," Austin said in a voice that seemed to half echo in itself.

"I think I do!" BonBon challenged.

Austin let go of the rope and walked towards BonBon. BonBon swung her blade. Austin seemed to move in an animalistic style, dodging her attacks.

"I could do this all day!" BonBon taunted.

Austin stuck out his hands and black flames emerged and surrounded BonBon.

"Whoa!" BonBon exclaimed. "Not cool!"

Neil had tried to make a break for it by now. As he ran down the hall, though, a clamp sprang up and clung to his leg.

"There's no escape from me!" Austin said as he grabbed Neil.

"Booyakasha!" BonBon cried as she lunged forward and tackled Austin into the wall.

BonBon chopped off the chain around Neil's foot, and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

"We're getting out of here!" BonBon said as she barreled down a hallway.

Austin got up and chased after her.

"Just kidding!" BonBon said as she turned around. "Flying kick!"

BonBon leapt through the air and delivered a solid kick to Austin, sending him sprawling along the stone floor. She took the chance to draw her blade and plunge it straight for him. Just in the nick of time, though, Austin disappeared into a puff of smoke. The blade just sank into the stone.

"Hm, that's a nifty trick you've got there," BonBon remarked. "But this battle is mine!"

"Well, seems like we've got enemies at every corner," Neil noted as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Yeah, well they're the ones who should be worried," BonBon said, "because we are WINNING this thing!"

(To Be Continued…)


	9. Chapter 9

(Forest)

After the struggle between Annie, Eliot, and Duke the three of them ended up completely entangled in mess of brambles and vines. Annie was completely wrapped in vines and hanging over a branch, while Duke hung from the other end, with Eliot upside-down and leaning against the side of the tree.

"Okay, guys…guys…" Raven said as she eyed the group.

Annie continued to swat viciously at Duke, but the two were separated and could only waver from their suspensions.

"Guys, seriously," Raven said. "I'm sure we'd love to kill each other, but we're clearly not even doing that at this rate. Can we maybe cooperate a bit to get out of this pickle?"

Duke and Annie glared at each other.

"Please," Eliot begged. "I can't even feel my…anything."

"Oh alright," Annie huffed.

Raven climbed up the tree and began to unravel the twisted knots that were holding them up. Eventually they were all free and upright again.

"Now….where was I!?" Annie exclaimed before pouncing on Eliot.

A vine sprouted off of Duke and began coiling around Annie.

"Not so fast!" Raven said as she pulled a branch against Duke's throat firmly.

"Well…what exactly did that accomplish?" Eliot asked.

Suddenly the group heard an angry growl.

"Oh…that's not good," Annie remarked.

The four heads turned to see a pack of wolves coming after them again.

"It's time to run!" Annie exclaimed as she let go of Eliot.

The group of four ceased fighting and immediately started to flee.

In another part of the forest, Roquette and Montana hopped off their log and continued to run.

"Do you think we lost him?" Roquette asked.

The two heard fast approaching stomping.

"Not likely," Montana replied.

"We can't keep running forever," Roquette said as she gripped her bow. "I took down one of these before…well, granted, with the help of a monstrous tree, but still we're going to have to put up a fight."

"I'm always up for a challenge, right," Montana said as she help up her boomerang.

Montana turned around and ran back to meet the monster. Crock came charging out through the trees after them.

"You're going down, right!" Montana said as she swung on a vine and tossed her boomerang at the creature's face.

She delivered a kick to his head, but he just shook it off and swatted her away. Knocking her to the ground, Crock loomed over Montana ominously.

"Hey!" Roquette called while firing an arrow. "I'm the one you want! Your brother? That was me, I took him out!"

Crock let out a furious snort and chased after Roquette. Her arrows having no effect on him, she just kept running.

"Okay, maybe this wasn't the best approach after all," she sighed to herself.

* * *

(Mountain)

"You're going to need some training," Jodeina told Hunter as they walked through the fortress. "But I see a lot of potential for you to become a fine fighter."

"Well, I'm not surprised, I am highly skilled," Hunter remarked.

"You'll need a new weapon though," Jodeina added, "Your swordplay technique…well it wasn't working."

The two entered an armory with all sorts and shapes of weapons hanging from the walls.

"My men said they saw you with a pickaxe," Jodeina continued. "Perhaps this will suit you."

She handed Hunter a battleaxe.

"Oh well…it's quite heavy," Hunter remarked.

"Yes, it needs to be to crush the bones of your enemies," Jodeina said.

"I…see," Hunter replied.

"And as for you," Jodeina said to Mona.

"Apologies but that's not necessary, I am a pacifist," Mona stated.

"Really?" Hunter asked.

"When it suits me," Mona said, "Which right now it does. Now if you don't mind I'm going to brew some tea and play some Mah-Jong. I'll be sending positive auras your way."

"Very well then," Jodeina said as Mona left them. "Let us begin your training."

Jodeina guided Hunter to a broad, mostly empty room. As they reached the center, she drew her sword.

"We begin now!" she said as she attacked at Hunter.

"Ugh, here we go again," Hunter sighed as he raised his axe to defend himself.

He swung his weapon at Jodeina but she dodged each time. She moved gracefully while Hunter was slow and clunky. Jodeina was able to easily slide her blade up against his neck.

"We've got lots of work to do," she remarked.

At the village, Garfield and Ilona had returned. Garfield was gathering up the people he could, helping any who needed it. He lifted up a pile of collapsed wood to release the trapped Chireen. She ran to her father and hugged him desperately.

"Our village will need much work to repair," Shain said. "But we thank you for the protection.

"It's not entirely safe yet," Ilona said as she delivered a series of attacks to group of straggling goblins. "These guys are still around, just without much direction anymore."

"We'll do whatever we can to help," Garfield assured the man.

As Ilona and Garfield walked together Garfield sighed.

"It's terrible seeing all this damage," Garfield said. "People were killed and wounded…there's so much suffering caused in such a short amount of time."

"We just have to remember that it's not all real," Ilona said. "We'll return to the real world when this is all over and none of this will exist anymore."

"I know," Garfield said, "but it feels real now…and I just can't help but feel like I need to do everything I can to help these people. I can't change that."

* * *

(Beach)

Teddy had entered the shadowy world. The sky was filled with dark clouds, the inky black water was anxiously crashing into waves. He approached the stationary ship ahead of him. It was full of holes in the rotting wood, yet somehow stayed afloat in the water.

"Okay here I come doing the thing!" Teddy exclaimed as he flipped through the air and landed on the ship.

It was eerily silent aboard. Teddy glanced around and saw nothing but wreckage.

"Hello?" he called.

No answer. He shrugged and began to pace along the deck. He searched under the piles of fallen wooden but found nothing of interest. Eventually he came to a hatch that led down below. He shimmied down the ladder and found himself in a hall littered with jagged planks of wood in his way. He had to weave himself between the debris to reach the room at the end. This room seemed higher quality, the walls had wallpaper, the floor had carpet, it was filled with bedroom furniture…still though it appeared ravaged and worn. Teddy glanced around. He then noticed something glowing…however it wasn't coming from the room, but from his pocket. He pulled out his flute to find it emitting a white light.

"Hmm, I think I have this figured out!" Teddy exclaimed as he held up the flute triumphantly.

He then blew into the instrument letting out a haunting shrill note. When he finished the glow dissipated.

"…And?" Teddy called.

Then the room started to tremble slightly. Water started to seep it from the floor. It all pooled together in the center of the room, then began to form vertically. Like a fountain spraying up a and cascading back down. The spurt of water slowly took form, like a drooping cloak made from a liquid.

"…Hi!" Teddy greeted.

Down deep in the water below, Todd and Calvin were paddling through the sea, going deeper and deeper. Their glowing helmets kept them from being totally submerged in darkness though.

"Look, I think I see something ahead!" Todd exclaimed.

"I can barely see anything out here," Calvin remarked.

But Todd was right, the two soon came upon a bound Kitty struggling in the water. She was completely wrapped up, and more than that, she had an anchor attached to her leg holding her in place.

"Don't worry, Miss, we'll save you!" Todd exclaimed as he rushed towards her.

However, the mermaid captor suddenly emerged between them, tossing a fishing net over Todd.

"Aah!" Todd cried as he was pinned down the ground.

"You are mine now!" Leira laughed.

"You don't scare me!" Todd said.

"I don't have to scare you," Leira replied. "What you should be worried about is that."

She gestured to the darkness, where something seemed to be emerged. Several flailing tentacles curled out and began to search through the water.

"Eep! That scares me!" Todd cried.

"Yeah, well I'm here too!" Calvin said as he swam towards the mermaid.

She swung a chain around at him, but Calvin managed to avoid it and got up against the mermaid, delivering a kick to her. While they struggled, Kitty and Todd tried to squeeze out of their imprisonments to little success.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Caleb, Sylvander, Missy, and Jacquie had come to a split in the path.

"Which way do we go?" Jacquie asked.

"Let's take a chance and leave it up to fate," Sylvander said as he walked down the path on the left.

Caleb followed after him. As Jacquie and Missy tried to follow as well, they suddenly heard a click, and in an instant, a stone slab emerged between them and the path.

"Hey!" Missy pouted.

"Well, it seems like fate wants us apart," Jacquie remarked.

"It's okay!" Missy exclaimed as she grabbed Jacquie by the arm and led her down the other path. "That just means we'll get some girl time all to ourselves!"

"Just what I needed," Jacquie sighed.

On the other side, Caleb had turned around to investigate the door. He pried at it, trying to find a way to get it open.

"It's not budging," he sighed.

"Let us keep moving forward," Sylvander suggested.

The two boys did not have to travel far before another horde of corpses began to emerged from the brickwork. Sylvander readied his bow, but Caleb gestured for him to hold back. Caleb raised his staff and then jabbed it forward. A bolt of fire shot out and spiralled into flames as it spun past the attackers. All of them were subdued swiftly.

"Nicely done," Sylvander noted. "I can see you're a natural at this."

Meanwhile, Missy and Jacquie walked together just parallel to the boys.

"Sooo…why don't we talk and get to know each other? I mean what else is girl bonding time for!?" Missy exclaimed.

"Uh…sure?" Jacquie said. "What do you want to know about me?"

"How about, how many charities did you donate your winnings too?" Missy asked.

"Um—" Jacquie replied.

"Aha! That's what I thought! None!" Missy accused. "And I bet you didn't even share any with the people whose dreams you crushed, did you!? We need more people like that guy Cameron, now that's the true image of heroism!"

"Okay, well would YOU share your winnings with 29 other people if you win this season?" Jacquie asked.

"No, because most of you don't deserve it!" Missy answered. "How dare you try to use my own logic against me?! You sicken me!"

"Okay, good bonding," Jacquie said, "let's move on to the silent part."

The two continued to walk further in silence. Suddenly Jacquie halted and held out her hands.

"Look!" she exclaimed.

The darkness masked the sudden drop, but the path stopped right before a deep pit.

"That was close," Jacquie remarked.

However, the edge of the stone she was on began to crumble. She did not move back quick enough, soon she was tumbling down in a slide of rocks. She gave a pained groan as she hit an uneven surface. Only when she regained herself did she realize she was lying in a pile of rotting corpses.

"Ew!" she cried out.

As she tried to get up, several of the bodies started to move. Various skeletal hands began clutching her from all over.

"Ack!" Jacquie cried as she began to slash all around herself.

* * *

(Forest)

Montana gripped Roquette's wrist as the two hurdled over logs, boulders, anything in their way. They made a mad dash through the wood as the monster behind them refused to give up the chase.

"Careful, careful!" Montana exclaimed as the girls passed a patch of yellow bell flowers. "These are mondo poisonous! They'll kill you like that!"

"Wait, wait!" Roquette said as she stopped the two from running further. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes," Montana answered. "Yes, I am."

"Okay, grab me one of those flowers," Roquette said. "I need to get somewhere high."

"Hm…evidently I was not thinking the same," Montana replied. "But I like where this is headed, right."

Montana tossed her boomerang at the plants and snagged one as it returned to her. Roquette meanwhile was carefully scaling a nearby tree.

"Catch!" Montana exclaimed as she tossed the boomerang. "Careful now!"

Roquette gripped one of her arrows and used it to skewer the flower. She then positioned herself on the branch with her bow poised to fire.

"Okay, let's not mess this up," Roquette said to herself. "One shot."

Crock came barreling towards them. Roquette fired, just as he slammed his claw against the tree. Her perch was rocked and her shot went off course. She cursed to herself as she plummeted. Crock snatched at her, but Montana swung by on a vine, grabbing her just in time.

"Nice try, right," Montana remarked. "But looks like it's back to the drawingboard."

Annie and Raven were also fleeing not too far behind them, when suddenly Roquette's arrow hit Annie in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Annie cried.

"What was that!?" Raven exclaimed.

"I don't know…" Annie said as she tugged at the arrow. "But I don't feel so good now…"

Annie looked down at her hands to see they were turning grey. Then the rest of her skin began to lose its color.

"Aw, dang it…I think I'm done for…" Annie slurred before hitting the ground.

"That you are, Annie!" Chris announced. "Annie is our second death in this phase and out in 23rd place! So sad!"

Eliot and Duke meanwhile were fleeing in the opposite direction. The pack of wolves seemed to have chosen them as their desired targets. The boys' escape was difficult to say the least though; their link was constantly snagging or tangling, forcing them to backtrack and work it out. The wolves had soon caught up with them and once again had them surrounded.

"Oh this is bad, this is really, really bad!" Eliot exclaimed.

"Don't tell me, they're alien wolves?" Duke asked.

"You know, I think these might just be the plain earth kinds," Eliot said, "but either way it's still very bad!"

The wolves growled as they circled around the boys. The two stood tense, waiting for the right moment to move. Before anyone did though, Eliot's horn started to let off a glow.

"Um…is that supposed to be doing that?" Duke asked.

"I don't know but I feel…something…coming over me…" Eliot said.

The wolves closed in on the boys, tightening the circle around them. The leader pounced. Eliot suddenly stepped up to meet the wolf, his eyes now glowing yellow and his face furrowed. He let out an animalistic roar. The pack of wolves suddenly all sat obediently. All except for the alpha who continued his attack, but directed at the vines linking the bodies. With a savage bite he tore the bond apart. The vines linked to Eliot shriveled and died, while the various tendrils linked to Duke remained lush.

"Well…that was neat," Duke remarked.

"What am I!?" Eliot cried. "I'm a monster!"

* * *

(Mountain)

Jodeina continued to spar with Hunter. She moved swiftly, always one step ahead, ready to cut him off. She traced her blade along his body lightly wherever she had him.

"You'd be dead ten times over by now," Jodeina remarked. "Don't hold back on me, you have to be ready for anything."

Outside, two guards were pacing around the walls.

"Hey look," one said as he pointed out to the inlet. "Is that a ship?"

"We're supposed to be looking out for monsters, Greg," the other guard said, "Who cares if that's a ship?"

"But there hasn't been one up this stream in decades," the first guard replied, "Don't you think—"

"Aha!" A pirate exclaimed as he climbed up the wall and kicked Greg over the edge.

Several more joined him and soon overpowered the second guard.

"That's right, boys!" Crazybeard called from the ground. "Show no mercy, take no hostages! Bring all the treasure to me!"

Portia joined in with the pirates as they spread out along the wall, brandishing their vicious weapons and cutting down anyone who got in their way. One of the guards managed to escape and made a sprint to the training room.

"General Jodeina!" he exclaimed frantically. "We are being attacked…by pirates!"

"Pirates?" Jodeina echoed with confusion.

"Pirates?" Hunter echoed again with even more confusion.

"Yes, pirates!" the guard insisted.

"Well, looks like you've got your shot to prove yourself already," Jodeina said to Hunter. "Let's move out!"

Jodeina charged out the door. Hunter awkwardly and uncertainly followed after her with his axe in hand. As they came up to the wall they saw pirates piling in and engaging in vicious attacks wherever they got the chance.

"You're going to wish you'd stayed clear of this place," Jodeina threatened as she swung her blade from pirate to pirate.

"Um, yes, what she said!" Hunter said as he swung his axe at the nearest person to him.

The blonde girl twirled around and blocked his attack with a double cutlass.

"Wait a minute," Hunter said, "Aren't you one of the players?"

"That's right," Portia replied.

She used his momentary pause to pass his defense and drive her blade towards his neck. Hunter managed to back up in time.

"And you're just hanging out with these brutes?" Hunter asked.

"At least I'm having fun," Portia replied as she attacked again.

Hunter continued to dodge her cuts at him. He eventually returned with an attack of his own. Portia dodged and went it for the kill strike, but Hunter reacted quickly and their metal clashed. Hunter spun around, changing their sides and forcing Portia towards the wall where he'd have her cornered. Portia realized what he was doing though. Her eyes darted to the side briefly. Hunter brought his axe down and Portia swerved to the right. Hunter caught onto her motion though and changed the direction of his blow. Portia had to bend to just narrowly escape the axe's edge. She used Hunter's movement against him though and got behind him. She attacked his unprotected side. Hunter's only move was to drop to the ground.

"Now I've got you," Portia said as she pointed her sword at him.

Hunter spun his axe along the ground though and used the shaft to sweep her legs. Both of them used the time to get back up and immediately returned to combat.

Back on the ship, Crazybeard was watching through a spyglass.

"Excellent, brilliant!" he exclaimed. "That treasure will be mine in no time!"

He then heard some clatter behind him.

"Hm!?" he demanded as he turned around.

He followed the source of the noise down to the cabin. Inside, Mona was pilfering through his treasures.

"What in the blazes!?" Crazybeard shouted.

"Oh hello," Mona said as she held up a pearl necklace. "This is very lovely, isn't it? Though I'm not quite sure it's your style."

"Now listen—" Crazybeard tried to say.

"This is also quite nice," Mona continued as she pointed to a golden chandelier just lying against the wall. "Though I have to wonder of its practicality on a ship. Really seems like a waste that it will never shine in its full beauty, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you—" Crazybeard continued to say.

"But all of this is just what it is," Mona said, "All except…"

She closed her eyes and spun around. Eventually she stopped and pointed. She knelt down and found a small blue fleck in a pile of gold.

"This has great power," she said as she picked it up, "I can sense it…well, nice meeting you, goodbye!"

She took the blue piece and climbed back up to the deck.

"Now wait just a minute!" Crazybeard exclaimed as he chased after her. "…You're not going anywhere!"

"Could you hold that thought for three seconds?" Mona asked.

"What?" Crazybeard demanded.

"That's perfect," Mona said as she wind swept a loose rope her direction.

She clutched the rope and swung along it before dropping off over the edge and sliding down into the snow.

* * *

(Beach)

Judie and the oversized Rudy continued to circle around each other.

"Alright, you want to play rough?" Judie hissed. "Well prepared to get more than you bargained for!"

Judie made a swift motion towards Rudy, but he was able to slap her back before she could attack. She flipped along the sand but managed to land gracefully. She shook herself off and continued to glare at the beast. Rudy took his turn to charge at her. Judie reacted with quick timing, moving just when he was close enough. She launched herself towards him and flipped over his body. Rudy spun around quickly to face her again.

"Is that all you got!?" Judie taunted.

Rudy chased after Judie and slammed down his fist. She managed to keep herself moving though and always one step faster than his attacks.

"Stop playing like a coward," Rudy spat.

"Oh is that what you think I'm doing now?" Judie replied coolly. "Come at me!"

Rudy delivered an angry punch, and Judie guided him forward…moving just in time for Rudy to slam his fist into a rock spire. Pain shot through his arm, but his blow had damaged the rock structure, causing several pieces to come tumbling down on top of him.

"Ha! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Judie taunted.

Rudy got up though and tossed a large boulder at Judie. She spun out of the way skillfully.

"You know what, let's call it a draw," Judie said before backflipping away.

"Hey, get back here!" Rudy shouted.

"Nah, we're done here," Judie replied.

"This isn't over!" Rudy said. "I'm coming after you!"

"Try it," Judie challenged.

Down below in the water, Calvin and Leira continued to struggle. The two swam in circles around each other. The mermaid tossed various attacks at Calvin, but he managed to swim around them. Todd finally was able to break free of his net. He shot like a torpedo towards the two in mid-scuffle.

"Now you're in for it!" he exclaimed.

He ended up walloping into Calvin though and sending him spinning through the water.

"Yeah, could you not?" Calvin scoffed.

As Kitty tried to struggle free of her binds, the flailing tentacles ominously whisked around her. Flipping without direction in search of its prey.

"Um guys…could you maybe hurry it up?" Kitty asked. "Not sure how long I'm gonna last here."

"Look out!" Calvin ordered as Leira fired a blue bolt at the boys.

Todd swam down, while Calvin shot up.

"Hey, take this!" Todd shouted as he tossed a rock at Leira.

She easily disintegrated it with a zap from her finger. While her attention was divided though, Calvin rammed into her side with his shoulder. She was sent reeling backwards. She had the misfortune of colliding with one of the tentacles. Finding its prey, it firmly coiled around her. More closed in and began dragging her down.

"Noo! NOOOOO!" she shrieked as she was pulled into the abyss.

Kitty broke free and swam over to join the boys.

"My heroes," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, no big deal," Calvin scoffed.

"I'm a hero, woohoo!" Todd cheered. "I mean…think nothing of it."

Suddenly, something came up from the abyss. Leira lunged up and clutched Kitty by the throat.

"If I'm going down, you're coming with me!" she screamed.

The tentacles pulled again, and Leira dragged Kitty down into the darkness with her.

"Help!" Kitty cried desperately.

Todd tried to rush to save her, but ended up tripping over the broken net and getting tangled in it somehow. Kitty let out a final scream before disappearing into the depths.

"And with that!" Chris's voice announced. "Kitty has been consumed and has been eliminated from the game in 23rd place! So sad, boohoo."

"No!" Todd pouted as he punched the ground.

* * *

(Catacombs)

With a puff of smoke, Austin reappeared in Mileva's chamber.

"Hey, what happened?" he exclaimed.

"I took over and saved you from a most unfortunate death," Mileva replied.

"I had it under control!" Austin pouted.

"You most certainly did not," Mileva replied. "If it wasn't for me, you'd have a gaping hole through your stomach right now. We underestimated them."

"Let me at them again then!" Austin said. "I won't make the same mistake!"

"No, you won't," Mileva said. "We can learn from this. And for now I suggest patience. Let them weaken and tire themselves out…we'll get our chance soon enough. Watch…"

She presented a flame that showed the explorers of the catacombs all in their separate locations. They focused on BonBon and Neil walking through a hallway together.

"Alright, now how about we design a battleplan?" BonBon asked Neil. "You know, plan of attack? You go left, I go right? Jab and then punch!?"

"How about…you fight and I stay behind you," Neil suggested.

"Hmm…I LIKE it!" BonBon exclaimed. "This is why we go well together!"

The duo was soon faced with another angry horde of corpses.

"Alright, time to put that plan into action!" BonBon said. "Get ready to do nothing!"

BonBon charged forward and began hacking and slashing at the husks.

"That's right, booyakasha, suckers!" she laughed while cutting them to bits.

As she swung wildly, though, she nearly stumbled right into a pit. She stopped herself in time though, and twirled around to finish off the final of the zombies.

"Whew, that was a close was!" BonBon remarked as she gazed down.

The pit was quite deep and below there seemed to be a dark substance full of bones. She could make up skeletal hands desperately reaching upwards.

"Scary stuff," BonBon remarked.

"Why don't you take a closer look?" Neil chuckled before kicking BonBon from behind and sending her tumbling down the pit. "Sorry, friend, but I couldn't resist."

(To Be Continued…)


	10. Chapter 10

(Forest)

Eliot walked around the wolves nervously. They all sat patiently. Duke meanwhile was experimenting moving the tendrils hanging from his shoulder. Eliot pointed his arm one direction and the wolves all turned to face it, then he pointed in the opposite way and they quickly did the same.

"So you can control them now?" Duke asked.

"They…seem to be connected to my directions," Eliot said uncertainly.

"That's so cool!" Duke exclaimed.

"No," Eliot said. "No it is not cool! There's clearly some sort of psychic link going on here…my thoughts on floating through the air and connecting with these animals…they're out there vulnerable to be picked up or even influenced by ALIENS!"

"Dude," Duke said as he grabbed Eliot by the shoulders. "I'll say this one more time, it's a game. You're fine. Now just be glad for this."

Eliot went back to focusing on the wolves. They got up on all fours. They began running, forming a figure eight pattern.

"I guess I could get used to this," Eliot remarked.

"Good," Duke said, "now let's put this to use and get back at those girls."

As it so happened, Raven was currently looking down at Annie's lifeless body.

"Ugh, really Annie? Are you serious right now?" Raven sighed. "This is totally not what I need right now."

Raven looked away from the body and out at the direction of where the arrow had come from. She decided to follow after that path, though she was careful to stick to the trees or other protection she could find. As she moved, she noticed the big red figure ahead of her, partially obscured by the forest growth. She was shocked and tried to back up, though ended up tripping over a root. Crock turned around and she was able to see the monster. She gasped and crawled along the dirt to the nearest tree. She curled herself up, trying to appear as small as possible, and huddled between the tree's large roots. Crock had heard something though and turned around to investigate. He stomped towards Raven. She held her breath, praying for him to just overlook her. She knew if she made a run for it now she wouldn't get far. Crock was standing right next to the tree by now. As he reached around, though, a monkey threw a banana at his head.

"Hey!" he snapped. "I'm gonna get you!"

He ran to continue chasing after the monkey, and Raven was able to finally sigh in relief.

* * *

(Mountain)

Garfield stood with a group of villagers as he looked over a wrecked building.

"My family can't live in here now," a man said sadly. "Not with the harsh winter coming."

"Don't worry, don't worry," Garfield said. "We'll have this place fixed up and standing again in no time. Let's get some supplies, I'll get a plan ready…"

Garfield looked around and realized that Ilona was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh…just give me a second," he said as he backed up.

He began searching through the village.

"Ilona?" he called. "Ilona!"

He still saw no sign of her. He made a complete circle of the town but only found villagers.

"That's…strange," he said to himself.

He then noticed a figure on the outskirts, out in the blanket of snow. He rushed over towards them.

"Ilona!" he called.

He managed to catch up with the girl, and she turned around to face him.

"Hey, where are you going?" Garfield asked.

"I'm sorry," Ilona said. "You seemed to be very into helping the people there, I didn't want to ask you to stop."

"But…why would you ask me to stop?" Garfield asked.

"Because I need to move on," Ilona said. "Like I said, it's not real, and it's time to just leave be and move on if we want to make any progress."

"Ah…" Garfield sighed. "Well, I'm not letting you wander off on your own. I guess you're right, let's keep moving."

"You sure?" Ilona asked.

"Not another word," Garfield said with a smile. "We've got a mountain to explore."

Up at the fortress, the fight between the pirates and the soldiers was still ongoing. Despite the pirates leading the attack, the soldiers had managed to gain the upper hand. More had piled in, and soon outnumbered the pirates. Archers attacked from afar and subdued the bandits, and the others managed to overtake the rest of them. Portia said the tides turning and decided to make her exit. She broke away from Hunter and ran for the wall. She tossed a rope up and began to climb.

"Oh no you don't!" Hunter said as he chased after her.

Hunter grabbed onto the rope as well and followed after her. Once Portia reached the top she glanced back nervously. Seeing Hunter she began hacking at the rope. Hunter swung himself up though to face her before she got through it.

"You're not fleeing anywhere," Hunter said.

"A pirate never flees," Portia retorted as she whipped her cutlass up to point at Hunter's throat.

"And just when did you become such an expert?" Hunter asked.

He sidestepped and came at her with the axe. Portia parried and the two ended up colliding and falling over the other edge. The two hit the snow and rolled through it before pulling apart and standing up to face each other again. Portia drew her blades and Hunter readied his axe. Hunter lunged but slipped along a sheet of ice. He stumbled forward and fell right pass Portia. Portia took the chance to run and join the other pirates who were heading back to the ship.

"Whatever happened to never fleeing?" Hunter asked.

"Don't think of it as fleeing, think of it as a gift of mercy," Portia replied. "See you around!"

"Hello," Mona said as she helped Hunter up. "What did I miss?"

* * *

(Beach)

For a few seconds Teddy stood in silence facing the cloaked figure.

"So…hi!" he finally said.

"Hello," the shadowy figure greeted.

"Ummm…what's up?" Teddy asked.

"You possess a powerful item," the figure said.

"My hat? Yeah I won it in a baseball game after I managed to catch a fly ball between my knees which actually—" Teddy recounted.

"No," the cloak said. "You have the Flute of the Spirits…it binds you to the world of the dead, allowing you to see beyond the veil which most humans never view."

"Ooooh that explains a lot," Teddy said, "by a lot I mean why Calvin couldn't see this…I guess that's not really a lot…that's one thing, one things not really a lot in the grand scheme of things, it could explain five whole things really but it didn't oh well!"

"Are you done?" the figure asked.

"No!" Teddy said. "I've got—"

"You're done," the figure said while holding a sleeve to Teddy's mouth. "Now listen, your power gives you an important responsibility."

A skeletal hand emerged from the sleeve and held out a large key. It was rough and uneven, worn over by time.

"This key opens something very important," the figure said. "Take it and bring it back to where you found your instrument."

"Got it!" Teddy exclaimed as he clutched the key. "Um…one question…how exactly do I get back there?"

The cloak began to dissolve again, turning back to water and splashing down to the floor.

"Wait, you didn't answer my question, hello!" Teddy called.

The water began to form a vortex though, spinning and sucking into a deep bottomless hole.

"Whoa!" Teddy cried as he was pulled in and swallowed by it.

Deep down in the water, Todd and Calvin were still floating above the abyss where Leira and Kitty had been sucked down.

"No, this can't be happening!" Todd sobbed. "Kitty, I'm coming for you!"

The boy dived down towards the blackness.

"She's gone, bro," Calvin said.

The smaller boy lifted up a rock from the ocean floor before coming up from behind Todd.

"And now so are you!" Calvin said as he slammed the rock against Todd.

Todd let out a cry before spiral down into the darkness.

"Two for the price of one," Calvin chuckled before turning back the way they had come. "Thanks for making this so easy for me."

As Todd straggled through the darkness, he began to see the movement around him. He tried to swim back up, but something brushed across his ankle and then tightened into a grip on him. He felt himself being pulled down.

"No!" he cried as he broke free.

He kept desperately flailing upwards. More tentacles closed in though, his bodied was coiled around by either side.

"No!" he continued to scream as he found more and more binding around him and holding him back.

* * *

(Catacombs)

After being shoved down the pit, BonBon plummeted down towards the bubbling pool of death beneath her.

"Oh no, this is NOT how BonBon goes out!" she exclaimed as she stretched her legs out.

She managed to reach either end of the tunnel and hold herself in place just before falling into the deathly substance. She could see now that the tunnel let to a large chamber and the pool was just what was directly beneath her. She swung herself to land next to it.

"Aha! Booyakasha!" she cheered. "You can't touch this! You. Cannot. Touch…Any of this!"

She did a victory dance, only for a rotting hand to reach out of the pool and grab her by the ankle.

"Aaah!" she cried before slamming her blade down repeatedly. "DIE DIE DIE!"

Once she made sure she was free of the hand and gave it some extra stabs for good measure, BonBon sighed to herself and looked around.

"Well, looks like I'm on my own now," she said, "and that backstabbing scum had better hope he never sees me again!"

Said backstabbing scum was currently walking on his own through the temple. Suddenly he stopped himself. He looked up and saw a series of pikes ready to drop down on him. Looking around he saw a panel of the ground that was noticeably elevated.

"Heh, clever," he remarked. "But going to have to try harder than that."

He turned around and was suddenly face to face with Austin. The other boy cracked a devious smile.

"Hiya!" Austin said. "Looks like you're all alone now. Ditching your little friend might not have been the best idea."

"Maybe not," Neil shrugged. "but she was so damn annoying, I regret nothing."

"Well you might soon," Austin said as a black flame appeared in his hand.

"Nah, I don't think so," Neil replied suavely.

"Wait why!?" Austin demanded.

"Stop wasting time and kill him!" Mileva ordered.

"You see, Austin," Neil said, "in preparation for this season I did a little digging, figured out who I might be up against…you'd be surprised who easy it is if you know what you're looking for. Anyways, I managed to get a little research done on you."

"Yeah? So what!?" Austin replied.

"Well I came across a lovely blog, font was a little jarring, but nothing's perfect," Neil said. "You keep track of all the supernatural activity you've encountered."

"That's right!" Austin said proudly.

"We're waiting," Mileva growled into Austin's ear.

"I noticed quite a bit of interest in one piece in particular, you even had pictures," Neil continued. "The Loch Ness Monster?"

"You bet!" Austin said. "It's real and I've got the proof!"

"Except…sorry to say, your picture are fake," Neil said.

"What? No!" Austin pouted.

"Afraid so, and quite bad fakes at that, you can see all the signs of it being shopped," Neil continued.

"Why are you even telling me this?" Austin asked.

"Oh no reason," Neil said. "I just want to get you off guard."

"Wait what?" Austin asked.

"So I can do this," Neil replied before grabbing Austin and tossing him towards the elevated panel.

Suddenly this triggered the pikes to come crashing down.

"Not good," Austin whimpered.

Mileva rolled her eyes and with a snap of her fingers, Austin vanished into smoke just a split second before being impaled.

"Well…that could not have gone any more embarrassingly," she groaned as they reappeared in her chamber.

* * *

(Forest)

With Crock having moved ahead, Raven slipped out of her hiding spot and glanced around.

"Well, I know which way I'm not going now," she said to herself.

She turned around and went back the way she had come. Unfortunately, as she did so, she spotted the pack of wolves hungrily on her trail.

"Or maybe not," she sighed before spinning around again and continuing to run.

She swerved to the side and hopped over whatever was in her way, hoping to lose the beasts before they gained on her. As she ran though, she was suddenly grabbed and wrapped up in a web of vines.

"Aha, found you!" Duke exclaimed as he stepped out.

He held Raven up and dangled her above the ground as the wolves gathered at her feet. Eliot came up behind them, clearly out of breath from trying to keep up.

"Well, finish her off," Duke said.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Raven called. "Annie already died here, we don't need to lose anyone else, we can all move on alive."

"That's not as fun," Duke remarked.

"But it's smart," Raven said. "Use your heads, idiots! If you can put your new skills to use we can actually work together here and take down the bigger threat…that monster wreaking havoc, before anyone else has to die. That way all of us get out this alive, rather than all of us dying before we even see the end of this stage. Make sense?"

"Nah," Duke replied with a crooked smile.

"Actually, I think it makes a lot of sense," Eliot argued.

"Fine, fine," Duke sighed as he let Raven down. "We can call a truce…taking on a monster sounds like a party anyways."

Raven gave an uneasy look to the pack of wolves surrounding her, some still drooling. Eliot gave a whistle and they got into a new formation, ready to head out.

"Neat trick you picked up," Raven remarked. "Now this way."

Montana and Roquette were continuing to flee. The nonstop running was taking its toll on Roquette though. She halted and heaved in exhaustion.

"I can't go on," she sighed as she dropped to her knees. "I'm sorry."

"You can!" Montana insisted as she leaned down to help her friend.

Crock came lumbering towards them at an alarming speed though.

"I've finally got you!" he roared. "You won't be getting away this time. This time, vengeance will be mine!"

"Oh no it won't, you big bully!" Montana shouted as she stood up and glared at the ogre.

He just slapped her aside though. Roquette tried to crawl away, but there was no way she could escape.

"Now you're mine!" Crock laughed evilly.

Suddenly he was attacked by a clump of flailing vines. They shot to his throat and constricted.

"Gotcha!" Duke exclaimed.

Then the wolves attacked. One bit at this arm, another leapt up and attacked his ankle. Crock roared and began to swipe at random all around him. The wolves moved quickly though. Avoiding his attacks and delivering snaps at him all over.

"Gaah!" Crock cried out.

Duke tightened his grip on him. Crock struggled though and with a burst of strength managed to break free. He charged for Roquette and clutched her in his hands. The wolves continued to attack Crock all over, but he was hell-bent on crushing the life out of Roquette. In a desperate move she tossed her bow and quiver over his head to Montana. Montana moved fast and nocked an arrow. She took aim and fired. Her arrow pierced Crock straight in the neck. With a final roar he tossed Roquette against a tree, then collapsed to the ground.

"Is he done?" Raven asked as she emerged.

Duke gave the ogre a kick.

"Heh, we got him," he said proudly.

Montana, though, rushed to Roquette with concert.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" she asked.

Roquette was totally battered. She opened her eyes and gave a weak smile to Montana.

"I don't think I'm…gonna make it this time," she coughed out. "I've already survived more than I should have."

"No, oh no!" Montana said. "You are not giving up on me now!"

"Nah, I'm done," Roquette sighed. "You can still go on though. Don't let me down."

With that Roquette closed her eyes and the life seeped out of her.

"Roquette leaves us!" Chris announced. "In 22nd place! And the second death for this region. Remember guys, it's not over until every region gets its first death!"

* * *

(Mountain)

The crew of surviving pirates and Portia climbed back into the ship.

"What are ye yellow-bellied dogs doing back here!?" Crazybeard barked. "Where's me treasure!?"

"No luck, captain," one of the men said, "their forces were too strong for us…please don't hurt me!"

"Okay…I'll hurt HIM instead!" Crazybeard tossed a barrel at another pirate just standing nearby. "Not only did ye fail to bring me any treasure, one of them thieves stole something from me! This pillage has been WORSE than a failure! And we're not leaving until I'm quite a bit richer!"

"Um, Captain?" Portia spoke up. "May I suggest we try a stealth approach this time?"

"You may but I will ignore it because I have a far better plan!" Crazybeard exclaimed. "Man the cannons, we'll blow them apart!"

"Ummm…Captain, has it occurred to you that maybe the cannons aren't the answer for everything?" one pirate said timidly. "This fortress is in a mountain…it's incredibly sturdy."

"Yes, dammit!" Crazybeard snapped while stomping on the pirate he had previously knocked to the ground. "That's exactly what makes it so…crazy! Mwuahahahar!"

"Uh…yes," the pirate sighed.

Inside the fortress, Hunter, Mona, and Jodeina had reconvened.

"Well, thank the gods we managed to handle that," Jodeina said. "I had no doubt we would though of course. You yourself weren't too shabby out there. We'll make a man out of you yet!"

"Uh, thanks?" Hunter replied.

"I found this," Mona announced as she held up the blue shard she found.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"No idea, but I think it's magical," Mona said. "Something told me I had to have it."

"Hm, if it truly is magical, then it will get where it belongs one way or another," Jodeina said.

Suddenly the ground quaked. Mona tripped and dropped her treasure.

"What the hell was that!?" Hunter exclaimed.

Jodeina let them up to a lookout point. The fortress shook again as a cannon fired at their walls.

"Har! How do you like them apples!?" Crazybeard laughed from the crow's nest.

"What should we do?" Hunter asked.

"There's nothing we need to do," Jodeina replied. "This fortress is strong enough to take a few hits…this entire endeavors seems quite a bit…crazy if you ask me."

Meanwhile, Ilona and Garfield had returned to the tunnels.

"This is where we started out," Ilona remarked. "Let's see where they lead."

"Ladies first," Garfield said.

Ilona entered and Garfield followed behind her. They delved deeper into the darkness. As they did though, their surroundings suddenly shook. The two paused.

"What was that?" Garfield asked.

"I…have no idea," Ilona said.

The two waited for a bit. Then it shook again. The tunnel continued to reverberate after the initial impact though. Bits of rock began to crumble down on them.

"I think we need to get out of here!" Ilona said as she turned around.

With every shot fired, more of the tunnel shook and began to cave in on itself. Chunks of rocks began showering down on them, the pieces got larger and larger.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Ilona said as she pulled ahead.

Suddenly a massive pile of rocks came tumbling down on top of Garfield. The entire lower half of his body was crushed.

"Garfield!" Ilona screamed in shock.

She turned around and ran for him.

"Forget about me!" Garfield said. "You'll miss your chance to escape!"

He pointed to the exit which was already getting blocked off by the collapsing rocks.

"I'm not leaving you!" Ilona said.

"Yes you are!" Garfield ordered. "I'm stuck, there's no hope for me. Take this and run!"

He shoved the shell into Ilona's hands She just stood transfixed.

"Run!" Garfield shouted.

Ilona turned to run. But it was too late. The exit caved in and trapped her within the tunnel. She found herself in a small cache, but all around her was just falling rock. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was crushed as well. Something small came rolling down through the cracks towards her. A blue shard bounced along the sides until it landed neatly inside a chip on the tip of the conch. The shell glowed blue. The rocks came crashing down on Ilona…however, her entire body transformed into a liquid substance and seeped through the cracks.

"Ilona narrowly escapes death!" Chris exclaimed. "But Garfield is not so lucky and leaves us in 21st place. Rest in pieces Garfield!"

* * *

(Beach)

Todd continued to struggle in the depths of the ocean. The tentacles were dragging him downwards further and further.

"No, no," he continued to chant as he resisted.

Then the golden glow around his head began to flicker. The orb faded away and he lost the ability to breathe. He made a panicked cry that just came out as a glug of bubbles. Despite the firm coils around him, Todd dug deep to find determination inside of him. He turned his head upwards and pushed himself towards his goal. As he struggled he felt the grip loosening and loosening. Finally he broke free and shot off like a torpedo. Making his escape, though, he was still running short on air. He knew he'd never make it to the surface in time. Instead he looked around and found the opening to a tunnel. He desperately swam inside. He pushed his way through the passage and eventually found a pocket of air as he burst into Leira's cave. He gasped for breath frantically and pulled himself out of the water.

"Yes!" he cheered when he had regained himself. "Not today! I'm not dead yet!"

Up on the surface, Calvin had reached the shore again. He shook himself out and try to get the seawater out of his ears.

"Hiya!" Judie exclaimed as she kicked him in the stomach.

"Oh my god!" Calvin groaned as he dropped to his knees. "What the hell was that for!?"

"To test your reflexes!" Judie declared. "Want results? They're terrible!"

"Hey, hey, you know what? I just took care of two of our competition," Calvin said. "Yeah, that's right, I'm not so useless after all."

"You know what I'm sure you had a busy day, but I don't have time for that nonsense, wanna know why? This is why!" Judie exclaimed as she shoved the map in Calvin's face.

"Uhh…okay?" Calvin said.

"Upon further inspection I have found that there's more to this map than I originally thought," Judie said. "And it's telling us that there's treasure in the mountain!"

"So?" Calvin asked.

"So…what are we doing here when there's treasure to be found?!" Judie said.

"But you told me the treasure was meaningless!" Calvin argued.

"Why do you keep trying to use my own words against me!?" Judie snapped. "Do you think it will give you a better chance of winning the argument because I've got some bad news for you, ready for this? It won't!"

"Wait, wait, wait, this is just one of your stupid trick questions so you can punch me in the face again!" Calvin said.

"Three things," Judie said, "One, my trick questions are never stupid, the only stupid one here is you! Two, it's not. Three, let's freaking go already!"

Judie grabbed Calvin by the wrist and dragged him along. Just a small distance away, Rudy had returned to Toad. The troll was dabbling his fingers in the water admiring fish.

"Hey," he greeted. "Did you get her?"

"No, well yes but…sort of," Rudy said, "It doesn't matter, whatever!"

"That's the spirit," Toad replied.

"You know what? Why are we even wasting our time here?" Rudy said. "There's one human in particular that I've got a score to settle with. Let's ditch this dump and find him."

"Uh…well, actually," Toad said, "I kinda like it here. It's nice and peaceful…and all that fighting stuff…nah it's not for me. If you want to take the ship go ahead…I don't think I'll need it anymore."

"Oh…" Rudy said uncertainly. "Well…alright then…I guess I will…"

"Hey," Toad said with a smile. "If you ever need a hand, I'll be here for you."

"I doubt that will be necessary," Rudy declared with determination.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Caleb and Sylvander continued to walk together.

"You think the girls are okay?" Caleb asked.

"There's no way or knowing for sure," Sylvander said. "We'll just have to hope we'll see them again."

The two turned a corner and came to an open space. As they walked around cautiously, they noticed a group of figures in the corner. They raised their weapons ready to fight…but the bodies weren't moving. They went over to investigate.

"They haven't even been dead long," Sylvander sighed. "At least not compared to some of the—"

Sylvander stopped midsentence when he turned over one body. Caleb realized why when he saw what he was looking at. The corpse looked exactly like Gillian.

"How is that…?" Caleb said.

Sylvander had gone white with fear.

"I think I know what this is, though I pray that I'm wrong," he said, "We need to find away out…now!"

"What is it?" Caleb asked.

"Our city could very well be in danger!" Sylvander declared. "We need to get back before it's too late!"

Divided by a wall, on the other side Jacquie was desperately trying to get out of the pile of corpses. She gripped her sword and hacked at everything and anything around her. There was no stopping them though. They clutched to every part of her body.

"Let me through!" she shouted as she forced her way back towards where she had fallen in.

Using her sword she cleared enough of an opening for her to reach the deteriorated wall and began to climb up. Several rotting hands gripped at her ankles and feet. She tried to shake them off. She dug her nails into the crumbling bricks as she desperately kept moving upwards. Her outfit was torn apart at places now, and her skin now showed several scrapes and bruises. She pulled herself closer to the edge and saw Missy looking over her.

"Give me a hand!" she cried desperately.

"No, I don't think I will," Missy replied calmly.

"What!?" Jacquie demanded.

"This is what you deserve," Missy said, "You think you're all that. You think that you can play people against each other and get away with it just because you won your game! It's disgusting! It's time for you to get the downfall that's long overdue!"

"What the hell are you even talking about!?" Jacquie screamed.

"Of course you continue to deny it right to the last minute," Missy hissed. "That's what makes it the worst, you refuse to even accept any blame. But luckily I'm here to put a stop to that. This time you won't be stealing another win!"

Missy grabbed a rock and slammed it down on Jacquie's hands. Jacquie cried out and let go. She tumbled back down into the pile of bodies. They swarmed around her. She clutched her sword and still swung at them, but it was inevitable. There were just too many of them. They surrounded her, they held her down, they covered her body, tearing her apart. Missy looked away.

"Jacquie meets a grisly end," Chris said, "and the first of our original winners is out! This is also means…the rest of you have survived this phase! Congratulations Final 18, and get ready for phase three!"

The camera zoomed out again. It reached to the forest where Eliot and Duke were leaving the girls, while Raven put her hand on Montana's shoulder, comforting the hunched over girl. The view moved to the mountain with Jodeina, Hunter, and Mona all looking out of the tower at the sunset. The view changed again, showing Rudy taking off in the plant craft again while Toad waved goodbye sadly. Lastly it returned to the temple's chamber with Austin gazing into a flame, and Mileva staring with fixed intent.


	11. Chapter 11

(Forest)

Duke and Eliot had left behind the girls and were wandering on their own again. The pack of wolves trailing obediently behind them. Suddenly, the tendrils hanging from Duke's arm began to glow.

"Uhh…that's not normal," Eliot said, "well to be fair, having a plant going out of you shoulder isn't normal but it has somehow become the normal for us in a messed up way!"

The vines shot down into the dirt and began to burrow. Duke was pulled down to the ground, but the vines kept growing and extending deeper through the soil. Eventually they recoiled and sprung back to their usual size, leaving a gaping tunnel into the underground.

"Whoa," Duke gasped. "Do you think we should go in?"

"Well no," Eliot replied, "but when have you ever—"

"Great, let's go!" Duke said as he grabbed Eliot by the risk and pulled him in.

Elsewhere, Montana and Raven stood together.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Raven said.

"It's okay," Montana replied, "Just a game…and now I've made a new friend: You!"

"Me?" Raven asked.

"Sure!" Montana said. "I need someone to travel the world with me! What do you say? Are you in!?"

"I guess so," Raven said, "I should warn you…a lot of my friends so far have…well died."

"Sounds like a challenge, right!" Montana said. "Now I've GOT to give it a try! Let's go!"

The girls walked forward, only to realize the forest was beginning to thin out.

"Wow, we really did run a long way, right," Montana remarked.

As the trees cleared away, they found themselves at the base of a towering mountain.

"I think we're supposed to go up," Montana said.

* * *

(Mountain)

Within the heart of the icy caves a small stream of water was drizzling out from the cracks of the rocks. It pooled together and then began to reform the shape of Ilona.

"Wha…what?" she moaned as her legs solidified.

She walked around and glanced at her new surroundings. She felt her body, but she didn't feel wet at all.

"How did…what even…" she stammered to herself.

She then focused on the shell in her hands. She tilted it around curiously.

"Well…that's interesting," she said.

Up in the fortress, Jodeina stood in the lookout tower with Mona and Hunter.

"We'll keep watch here for any other dangers that might be coming our way," she said. "Things are taking a dark turn. Yetis stealing children, pirates leaving the seas…"

She paused and seemed to pale.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

Jodeina didn't answer though. Instead she left the room and urgently marched along the halls and stairs. Hunter and Mona quickly followed after her. Jodeina came to another room with a telescope set up. She peered into it.

"Oh no," she said. "This is bad."

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"It looks like a fire," Mona said a she took a glance through the telescope as well.

"It's not a fire," Jodeina said. "It's a beacon. The Field City is in danger…not just any kind though, that beacon is only to be lit in times of dire peril…I've never in my lifetime seen it. We need to leave now."

"Leave…like right now?" Hunter asked. "What about protecting this location?"

"If the Fields City is in true danger, then so is the rest of the world," Jodeina said. "We can't waste any time, this takes all priority. There's a stable with horses down below, let's go, move, move!"

Over on his ship, Crazybeard was obsessively watching the fortress through his spyglass.

"Come on, show me yer secrets!" he growled.

"Uh, captain?" one of the men said.

"Aha!" Crazybeard exclaimed. "Now I've got ye!"

His view showed Jodeina, Hunter, Mona, and several other soldiers leaving the gates on horsebacks.

"Leaving the palace unprotected…those FOOLS!" Crazybeard boasted. "For my new crazy plan, we shall attack…when no one is there! They'll never see it coming!"

"Yeah, real crazy," one of the pirates remarked saracastically to another.

"I heard that!" Crazybeard snapped as he pulled a cord and suddenly a trapdoor opened beneath the pirate.

"Okay, I swear, this crew's size changes from day to day," Portia remarked.

"Eh, I've had a hard enough time telling apart which ones are real and which ones are in me head," Crazybeard replied.'

* * *

(Beach)

Rudy got into the plant craft and took off into the air again, leaving behind the sands of the beach. He took to the air and flew through the sky until the ocean was a distance behind him. He instead set his sights on the green fields with the towering city in the middle.

Meanwhile, Judie was still dragging Calvin behind her. The duo had entered a series of tunnels by now.

"Okay so…where are we going?" Calvin asked.

"Did I not make it clear that we've got a mountain to find!?" Judie snapped. "And these tunnels will lead us right to the heart of it all where we'll find treasure galore! We'll put those pirates to shame!"

"Sure, why not," Calvin just sighed.

Down below the water, Todd was tentatively exploring Leira's cave.

"Okay…creepy," he said as he made sure not to touch anything.

He crawled deeper into its crevices and suddenly found himself sleeping down a slope. The ground beneath him got steeper and steeper and soon he was just rolling down through the darkness and deep underground.

* * *

(Catacombs)

BonBon was exploring the chamber she had ended up in. It seemed covered in dust and untouched, there wasn't even any signs of death or bones. She still clutched her sword ready to fight though. As she continued, she heard something from behind her. She whirled around. She saw the pit of death acting up, bubbling and stirring.

"Oh no you don't, keep that evil to yourself!" BonBon shouted before lunging.

She saw something emerging from the swirling mass she readied her sword to plunge straight into it. The body flipped in front of her.

"Tada!" Teddy announced as he emerged.

BonBon stopped her attack just a speck off of ramming her sword through his face.

"Well, hey there!" she greeted, pulling the sword away. "Where the hell did you come from!?"

"No clue, no idea, not a bit!" Teddy replied. "And where even am I?"

"Aw, who knows," BonBon laughed. "Glad to meet ya, though, you're not some crazy chronic backstabber though, are ya?"

"No, I don't think so," Teddy said.

"Good! Because after a lot of soul searching I've come to a conclusion about myself," BonBon declared. "They're not my type!"

Up above, Austin and Mileva were standing in the middle of her altar.

"So what next?" Austin asked. "I'll get them this time, for sure!"

"We've already wasted far too much time accomplishing nothing here," Mileva said. "It's time to move on, it's time to make my conquest known to the world."

"Oooh…how we gonna do that?" Austin asked eagerly.

"One of my minions is already preparing the world for my return," Mileva said. "We will join him now and take strength from the pain and misery he has inflicted."

Mileva outstretched her hands and all the torches around them let up. A light seemed to glow down on them and the platform they were standing on began to rise. Just around the corner, Neil peered in on them.

"Oh…this is interesting," he remarked as he stepped towards the light.

In another part of the temple, Sylvander was desperately searching for a way back to the surface.

"We need to hurry, we don't have a second to waste," he said while searching every turn he could find.

"You still haven't told me what's going on?" Caleb said.

"Aha!" Sylvander exclaimed as he found a loose panel.

He pushed it free and cleared away an old passage. Sunlight trickled in. He quickly began climbing up.

"Come, come," he said.

"What about the girls?" Caleb asked.

"We can't afford to worry about them now," Sylvander replied.

Caleb reluctantly followed after Sylvander. The two returned to the desert. Sylvander quickly located their wagon and cut the horse loose.

"Get on we need to get back to that city," he said.

"If we're going to abandon the girls I'd like to at least know what we're up against," Caleb said.

"Very well," Sylvander said "Are you familiar with a Ghoul? It's a creature that can take the form of its last kill…and I believe it may have taken the lives of my aunt and her companions…and we let it into the city. It can cause immense damage, our city is virtually defenseless, so that is why we need to get back there now! Now come on!"

* * *

(The Sky)

Chris looked down at the different locations. Caleb and Sylvander rushed to the Field from one direction, while Jodeina led a small army with Mona and Hunter coming from another side. Rudy piloted his craft in from the beach. Just before the city gates, a white glow deposited Austin and Neil on the ground.

Up on the mountain Montana and Raven ascended from one side, while Calvin and Judie ascended from another. And down in the catacombs, Duke and Eliot dropped down into the maze from their tunnel, while Todd made his way into the same from his tumble.

"Welcome, Final 18, to the third stage of this game!" Chris said. "One I like to call…Heroes Vs Villains! In each region there will be three heroes and three villains, you will share opposing goals. The side to complete their task will win immunity while the losers won't be able to move on until one of them is dead…of course before the task is complete, anyone is fair game. Now are you ready for this break down…"

Chris paused for dramatic effect.

"In the Field, the Heroes are…Caleb, Hunter, and Mona," he announced, "versus the Villains, Austin, Neil, and Rudy. The Heroes' task is to defeat the Ghoul before the city falls, if the Ghoul successfully destroys the city, though, then the villains win."

"I can't help but feel like we're at the disadvantage here," Hunter sighed.

"Up in the Mountains," Chris continued, "our Heroes will be…Raven, Montana, and Ilona, up against the Villains, Judie, Calvin, and Portia! The Villains are after the Mountain Treasure, which opens only once during the blue moon tonight! Get it before the moon passes and you win, if not then it's point to the Heroes!"

"Alright, it's Hero Time!" Montana cheered.

"And lastly, down in the Catacombs," Chris continued, "Todd, BonBon, and Teddy will be the Heroes against Duke, Eliot, and Missy! The Heroes need to figure out how to perform a ritual that will trap Mileva back in her prison. The villains need to figure out how to stop this from happening."

"Wait what…WHAT!?" Missy snapped. "There…this…there must be some mistake…a glitch...SOMETHING!? This CAN'T be right this is all wrong, wrong, WRONG! Why am I on the Villains? I'm not a Villain? I'm saintly! Chris is this some sort of sick joke!? It's not funny! It's messed up and emotionally scarring!"

"Good luck!" Chris concluded.

* * *

(Field)

Austin turned around to face Neil, now sitting in the grass, who had hijacked his way up with them.

"Aha, it's you!" he exclaimed as he grabbed him by the shoulders. "Well, you just made a big mistake!"

"I think you're the one who's about to make a mistake," Neil said calmly. "You heard Chris, we're on the same side now. Let's help each other out."

"Who says I need help!?" Austin demanded.

"You do need help," Mileva whispered in his ear. "Let him live, we could have a use for him."

"On second thought, maybe I could find a use for you!" Austin said.

"That's the spirit," Neil replied.

On the other side of the plains, the small army led by Jodeina merged with Caleb and Sylvander on their horse. The two groups stopped to meet.

"General Jodeina," Sylvander greeted. "It is good to see you here, I believe the city will need all the help it can get."

"Let's hope we can actually be of any help," Jodeina said. "My I introduce you to two of my most trusted new soldiers."

Jodeina presented Hunter and Mona.

"Most trusted?" said one of the other soldiers. "What about the rest of us? They only just got here."

"Hush, you're not plot relevant like the rest of us," Hunter scoffed.

"I'm sure you will bring all the strength of the Mountain with you," Sylvander said. "I have met a new friend of my own. May I present Sir Caleb."

"Well this is all a very cosmic coming together," Mona remarked. "I can feel the forces of good converging at this very point."

"Let's not get too confident," Hunter said. "Something tells me this will be anything but easy."

* * *

(Mountain)

Montana and Raven hiked up the mountain, getting colder and colder the higher they climbed.

"Alright, adventure!" Montana cheered. "Woo, bring it on!"

"How are you not cold?" Raven asked as she shivered.

"I've faced the most extreme of climates, right!" Montana said. "It's gonna take a little more than some snow to make me flinch, right. Ya hear that, mountain!? Give me all you got!"

"Or you know…don't," Raven chimed in. "Give us just a little bit."

"Oh hey, I was thinking," Montana said before tossing Roquette's bow to Raven, "Why not try your hand at that? I already got my trusty boomerang, right. Figured you might be better off with it."

"Hm," Raven said as she twirled the bow between her hands. "I could give it a shot. Just holding it, I already feel like Kitnass Neverdyne!"

"Who?" Montana asked.

"Kitnass Neverdyne," Raven repeated. "You know, from The Games of Hunger?"

"Never heard of it!" Montana replied.

"I didn't know that was possible," Raven gasped. "I love books, though. I love getting immersed in the adventure of it all."

"Well I love getting immersed in REAL adventure! Not just sitting around reading about other people's stories, right!" Montana said. "And now you're on your own adventure!"

"I guess I am," Raven said with determination.

She raised her bow and fired an arrow. It wavered in the air and awkwardly dropped way off of its mark.

"Um…I'll work on that," she said.

Meanwhile, Judie and Calvin were scaling a rough mountain face, covered in ice.

"Why are we doing this again?" Calvin asked. "There's a perfectly good path right over there."

"Never take the easy route," Judie scoffed. "You know who take the easy route? Normal people! We're gonna spend every chance we get doing things the hard way so that it becomes the new easy and then when easy people come at us they'll be…too easy!"

"Yeah okay I understood none of that," Calvin replied. "What else is new."

"Let's talk about this treasure!" Judie said. "If you were a treasure where would you be hiding?"

"I don't know!" Calvin said. "Uh, under an X?"

"It's exactly that in the box old fashioned thinking that's keeping us from making progress!" Judie snapped. "Try harder!"

"Uhhh.." Calvin said.

"Bzzt, too slow!" Judie snapped. "How do you expect to make those breakneck decisions if you can't even answer a simple question!?"

"You're making this question anything but simple," Calvin pouted, "I gave you an answer and—"

"I was just asking your opinion!" Judie said. "Just because it's wrong doesn't give you any right to start stalling!"

"But you told me try again," Calvin said.

"No I said 'try harder' that doesn't necessarily mean try again," Judie said. "Sometimes you gotta hold your ground!"

"Okay fine, if we're looking for treasure, it's under an X," Calvin said. "Final answer."

"I said 'sometimes' you unbelievable idiot!" Judie snapped. "This is NOT one of those times!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

"This…this…this isn't right!" Missy screamed as she paced the catacombs. "This is the most messed up, mishandling of a situation since…since…I don't know, there's nothing in human history to possibly even compare this too! AARGGHH!"

Missy began grabbing at bricks and rocks and tossing them against the wall angrily.

"I just rid this game of one of the most dangerous and heartless villains it's ever seen!" she ranted. "I am helping make this a better place! I am doing what no one else could! Why does that make me a villain!? WHY!? WHYYYYY!?"

Duke and Eliot came up behind her uneasily.

"Uh…hi?" Duke asked.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Missy screamed with bloodshot eyes.

"Well, uh…we're all on the same team now, right?" Duke said. "Maybe we should work together so we can all get through this."

"Why would I EVER want to work with you!?" Missy hissed before shoving Duke down. "You're a VILLAIN! Chris even said so!"

"But, so are you," Eliot pointed out while Duke desperately tried to signal to him to shut up.

"NO. I'M. NOOOOOOTTTTTT!" Missy screamed. "That was a mistake! That was an error! I'm not vile like you scum! I will KILL you!"

Missy lunged at Eliot but one of his wolves reached her first and pinned her to the ground. Eliot instructed it to let her up though.

"This isn't over!" Missy spat as she backed up. "I won't give into your dark temptation! Not once!"

Meanwhile, BonBon and Teddy were walking through a dark hallway. Unlike the above, it seemed sturdier, more untouched. The two followed the path to an arch. They entered what seemed like a crypt. In the center was a sarcophagus with a large lock in the middle of it.

"I know what I must do!" Teddy exclaimed as he rushed towards the lock with his key pulled out.

"Shouldn't we talk about this before—" BonBon tried to say but Teddy was already quick to turn the key and allow the lock to click open.

The top of the coffin lifted off. Dust emerged as it was released from the interior. Then a wrapped body creakily emerged from the bed. BonBon clutched her blade as the figure stood up.

"I…am…" he announced with a raspy voice. "…The mummy!"

"The mummy?" BonBon asked. "That's it? You don't even have a real name?"

"Well, obviously I had a real name!" The mummy snapped. "I was probably Pharaoh or something important like that. Excuse me but my brains are currently strewn among my intestines so maybe I'm not going to remember little details like that after a few millennia!"

"Okay, chill!" BonBon exclaimed.

"I DO remember something very important, though," The mummy said. "I'm here to help you seal away Mileva."

(To Be Continued…)


	12. Chapter 12

(Field)

Neil and Austin stood before the gates of the large city.

"So, what's the plan?" Neil asked. "The Heroes will be here soon, I don't know about you, but I'd rather not face off with them head on. How are we going to deal with them?"

"We don't even need to deal with them," Mileva said. "If they're foolish enough to try to face the Ghoul then they will be meeting their own demises."

"Well, maybe, but wouldn't it be a good idea to include some traps anyways?" Austin asked. "I've got a lot of good traps planned out, I think I can really get them with some of these!"

"Um…mind keeping me in the loop?" Neil asked, for all he saw was Austin talking to himself.

"Hm…nah," Austin replied. "You're just the evil minion, you don't need to know what's going on."

"Ha!" Mileva scoffed. "Austin is my evil minion, YOU are less than that!"

"He can't hear you," Austin said to her.

"Wait what?" Neil asked. "What did the demonic deity say about me?"

"Umm…it's not important!" Austin said.

"Well, excuse me for being concerned," Neil replied.

"Enough chit chat!" Austin said. "We've got traps to set, let's go!"

A short time lapse later, and the small army of heroes came up to the city gates. The city seemed different from when Caleb had visited before. Not starkly, but the busy streets were now empty, the life that had buzzed among the town was now dead. Instead a tension hung through the air, ready to be cut within a heartbeat.

"Be careful, be on alert," Sylvander said. "The Ghoul is quick and deadly. Do not give it the chance to strike, because you won't survive."

The group all drew weapons and began to spread out through the empty streets. From behind, the monstrous Rudy crept after them. He kept himself hidden and moved slowly. He glared at the group until he spotted Caleb.

"I've got you now," he said to himself.

* * *

(Mountain)

Crazybeard led his crew to the walls of the fortress.

"When I give the word…we storm the place!" the captain exclaimed. "Cut them to pieces!"

"Um, Captain?" Portia spoke up. "Maybe…maybe it might be more effective to try a stealth approach?"

Crazybeard glared at Portia.

"It was actually all the first mate's idea!" she quickly added.

Crazybeard turned to glare at his first mate.

"That…is a great idea!" he exclaimed. "And only the captain can have great ideas!"

With that he bonked the pirate on the head and knocked him into the snow.

"Stealth attack it is!" he announced.

Down below, Judie and Calvin had moved on to exploring a tunnel.

"Now this just screams treasure hoard," Judie remarked.

"You're so observant, I don't know how you do it," Calvin said sarcastically.

"Lose that tone and you might have just conveyed something correct for once!" Judie retorted.

The two saw some movement in the shadows ahead of them. They ran ahead and turned to face Ilona. Ilona showed a look of surprise upon seeing the intruders.

"You two are with the villains," she exclaimed. "Sorry, but I can't let you pass."

"Ugh, of course it's you," Calvin scoffed recognizing their adversary.

"You," Ilona groaned as she sighed. "Just my luck."

"Well, how convenient, you two know each other, don't bother introducing me," Judie scoffed.

"She—" Calvin began.

"I said don't bother and I meant it!" Judie snapped. "I probably know more about both of you than you know about yourselves!"

"Well then you know I'm not going to let you get by easily," Ilona said.

"Oh? And why not? Because there's treasure back there? Bada-boom! Nighthawk worked that out of you without even trying!" Judie exclaimed.

"You're…crazy," Ilona said.

"In the best way, darling," Judie replied. "And now it's time to take you down!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

Duke and Eliot walked through the maze while Missy reluctantly followed behind.

"So we're supposed to stop this ritual from happening," Eliot said. "How exactly are we going to go about that?"

"Beats me," Duke replied. "If we keep moving we're bound to find something."

"Or…" Eliot said thoughtfully. "or perhaps we can look for some sort of message. Who built this temple? Some ancient civilization? Aliens? An ancient civilization that was visited by aliens? They must have left us some sort of—"

"Watch out!" Duke exclaimed as he grabbed Eliot and pulled him back.

Eliot looked down to see he had just about fallen into a pit full of jagged spikes.

"Well, that was close," Eliot remarked.

Suddenly, Missy charged at the boys and shoved them both over the edge.

"Whoa!" Duke exclaimed.

His vines managed to sprout out and cling to the wall, but Eliot continued to fall. Duke managed to shoot another vine to him and coiled around his leg just before his head was impaled.

"What the hell was that!?" Duke shouted up at Missy.

"I am NOT a villain and it's time I prove it!" Missy exclaimed. "The world will be better off without you two!"

"But…isn't the way you're going about it…somewhat villainous?" Eliot asked.

"NO!" Missy snapped. "Someone needs to stand up and do what it takes. If I'm the only one strong enough, then I will have to for the good of the rest of the world. Nothing will ever get done if we keep letting you walk all over us!"

Missy began trying to pry off the vines from the edge.

"Can you like…subdue her or something?" Duke asked.

Eliot sighed and closed his eyes. Two of the wolves grabbed Missy by her wings and dragged her back. Duke then was able to pull up himself and his friend. They turned to see Missy surrounded by snarling wolves.

"Okay, that's it," Duke said, "Let's just put her out of our misery if she's going to pull crap like that on us."

"Are you…sure about that?" Eliot asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Duke asked. "She almost got us both killed. I don't care if she's technically on our team, we're better off without her."

"Can we just have a moment to discuss this?" Eliot said to Missy.

The two boys turned around from her. Duke used his powers to cause a bulb to grow around them and seal them of in private.

"I did not know you could do that," Eliot said.

"Neither did I," Duke replied. "I seem to be developing powers as I need them."

"That's concerning," Eliot said. "but an issue for later! For now, we can't afford to do away with Missy."

"Why not?" Duke asked. "You can't tell me there's anything likable or useful about her?"

"I can think of one thing," Eliot said. "If she dies now, and we still lose the challenge…that means one of us will be out automatically. I've calculated the risk and it's not worth it."

"Are you sure about that?" Duke asked. "Because she's crazy and could very well kill both of us before we even have a chance to win the challenge."

"Trust me on this," Eliot said. "We can handle her for now."

The two emerged from the bulb…only to find Missy was gone.

"Well…she left," Duke remarked. "Great, just great. Let's just hope she gets herself killed on her own then."

* * *

(Field)

The group of heroes had spread out into pairs to explore the city. Terrified townsfolk peered out from blocked windows and locked doors.

"Clearly a lot of damage has already been done," Hunter remarked. "These people know what's going on…I only hope it's not too late for us."

"I since a lot of dread, pain, and loss," Mona said. "but there's hope still…breathing like a tender heartbeat of a fragile babe."

"Did you get that out of a poetry textbook?" Hunter asked.

Mona opened her mouth, but instead froze. The two were walking down an alley now, outside of view from the main roads. Various shadows were cast along the walls.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"Move!" Mona shouted.

She grabbed Hunter by the arm and pulled him into the nearest door, which was fortunately unlocked. In the same instance, a blur with inhuman speed darted by. It made a clear sweep straight through where Hunter had just been standing, he could feel the gust brush against him. Then he was pulled indoors. Mona quickly went to work barricading the door.

"What was that?" Hunter gasped.

"I'd wager to guess exactly what we came here to find," Mona said. "And if that is the case, I should think we might want to make sure it can't get in."

"Right, right," Hunter said as he began to help cover up.

The two seemed to be inside a small shop abandoned in a rush, but still filled with stock. The two grabbed what they could and pushed it against any entrance. As they did, Hunter peered out a sliver of a window that was still open. He saw two soldiers exploring from the other side of the building. As one of them looked away, the other was instantly grabbed by a blur. One smooth motion. From one side to another, something shot across the street and in that instance, the soldier vanished. The other turned around, only to be dragged away next. Hunter and Mona watched wide-eyed, trying not to make any noise. Suddenly the creature was upon them. It only took a sudden flash and the monstrosity was outside the window, its skeletal claws reaching for them. Hunter saw its disfigured animalistic skull glaring against the glass. He swung his axe frantically. Slamming down over and over again at whatever he could hit before him. Eventually Mona tapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes to see the creature was gone. The two instinctively clutched each other in panic.

Outside, Caleb was walking in the opposite direction. He saw Sylvander nearby, though they weren't side by side. Caleb peered down another alley and the two were distanced further. Caleb's ears perked up as he heard a noise. He turned around but didn't see Sylvander anywhere and realized he'd wandered too far. He was tempted to call out, but he stopped himself at the last minute. He heard movement again. He looked up, just in time to see someone coming down on him. Rudy leapt down from a rooftop and landed straight over Duke.

"Hey old friend," he said evilly. "Long time, no see."

* * *

(Mountain)

Crazybeard and his crew scaled the wall. They watched the limited guards move and each dropped down when the coast was clear. One by one they filed into a hall, continuing to only move when no one was looking, hiding behind whatever they could find when someone was.

Suddenly Crazybeard stood up and announced, "ATTACK!"

"I thought this was a stealth mission?" Portia whispered.

"That's what we WANTED them to think!" Crazybeard laughed. "HAR HAR HAR! Show no mercy!"

Portia just sighed. The crew all drew their weapons and charged out at the unsuspecting soldiers. Portia took the chance to keep inching along the hall though. She got deeper and as she did the surroundings seemed to get darker, more ancient. She came to a flight of large stone stairs.

"This looks promising," she remarked.

She descended and found herself going deeper into the darkness. When she reached the bottom though she saw an ancient, thick wooden hatch. She pried it open and found an underground tunnel.

"As does this," she said.

Up above, Montana and Raven were coming along a ledge that looked down on the fortress.

"Ooh, that certainly looks promising," Raven remarked.

"More than you might think," Montana said as she mimed making binoculars with her hands. "It seems like there's some action going on in there, right. Looks like it's our time to a get a little rough."

Montana eagerly began hopping down along the side of the mountain.

"Oh…alright, is that what we're doing?" Raven said as she awkwardly tried to follow but mostly just slipped her way along.

Inside the tunnels, Judie had lunged at Ilona. Instead of taking the kick to her chest, though, Ilona's body turned to liquid and Judie sprung straight through her.

"Okay…that's new," Judie remarked.

Ilona turned completely to water and seeped ahead of Judie before reforming.

"Neat trick," Judie scoffed. "But getting me wet isn't going to stop me."

Judie charged again, but this time Ilona blocked her.

"That's why I've kept some old tricks too," Ilona replied.

Judie tried to shove Ilona aside but she continued to block and parry her attacks. Every time Judie was close to landing a blow, Ilona's body just temporarily liquefied. Ilona returned fire with a punch that knocked Judie back. The Nighthawk was clearly not amused.

"Well!?" she snapped at Calvin. "Do something! You're the one who beat her last time."

"Uh," Calvin said as he ran at Ilona.

Ilona just held her hands out. Water gushed from her arms and knocked back both Calvin and Judie.

"I told you," Ilona said. "You're not getting past me."

"You know what this calls for?" Judie asked.

"A tactical retreat?" Calvin asked.

"NO!" Judie snapped. "Sorry, force of habit, actually yes! Let's go!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

"If you keep going deeper into the catacombs," the mummy explained to BonBon and Teddy, "eventually you'll come to the core of the temple. There you'll find the obsidian tomb, it's been broken, but if you repair it, the seal will be reformed and Mileva will be trapped back inside."

"Ooh!" Teddy exclaimed. "You can count on us! Every little bit! We'll get it done! No sirree, we won't fail now!"

"One more thing," the mummy said. "I have something that might help you."

He guided them over to a shelf where he reached up and pulled down a painted box. He opened it to reveal an ankh.

"This is a powerful talisman," the mummy said, "but it comes with a heavy burden. Only take it if you feel worthy."

"Well," Teddy said, "I think I'm—"

"Sure thing!" BonBon said as she bumped Teddy aside and grabbed the talisman.

As soon as she did it transformed into a pair of bandages and wrapped around her arm.

"Ooh, that's neat," BonBon remarked.

"Well, I've done my part," the mummy said. "It's all on you now. I'm going back to sleep, maybe I can get back to that dream with me and Cleopatra."

The mummy returned to his coffin and pulled it closed.

"Well," BonBon remarked to Teddy, "I guess all we need to do i—"

The two stopped talking when they heard someone approaching.

"What's that!?" BonBon exclaimed.

She and Teddy crept over to investigate. The found Missy awkwardly stumbling towards them.

"Aah, it's one of the villains!" Teddy cried. "Stay back you bad, evil, vile, bad, mean, villainy, bad, horrible, nasty, villain person bad!"

"Hey, hey," Missy said. "You got it all wrong, I'm on your side!"

"Yeah, right!" BonBon said. "Your mind games might work on those of lesser intelligence, but we got something better…smarts! How much did you hear!?"

"Nothing!" Missy said. "But I swear, I'm not a villain. I'm totally here to help yo—"

"DIE VILLAIN!" Todd exclaimed as he wandered by and spotted Missy, tackling her to the ground. "I got you now!"

"Unhand me, you brute!" Missy cried. "Now I know what happened, I must have accidentally gotten switched with you, since there's no way a bully like yourself would ever be considered a hero!"

"Wait! I'm no bully!" Todd pouted.

"Then stop using your strength to oppress me!" Missy barked. "Strength is for helping not hurting."

"Oh," Todd said sadly as he let her go.

Missy got up and dusted herself off.

"Okay," Todd said, "well in that case let's start o—"

Missy promptly kicked Todd in the shin.

"Take that, jerk!" Missy spat. "Once a villain, always a villain!"

"Can I use my strength for hurting now?" Todd asked.

"Why are you asking the villain for advice?" BonBon asked before whispering to Teddy, "This is what I meant about those mind games. Poor guy, all brawn, no smarts."

Teddy nodded sadly.

"You guys are just as bad as the other villains!" Missy spat as she got up to leave. "It looks like I'm the only one around here who's good for anything! Don't expect any favors from me in the future!"

With that she stormed off again.

"So like, should we do something about her?" Todd asked.

"Nah," BonBon said. "Something tells me she's not the one we need to worry about right now. Now come on, we've got a tomb to find!"

(To Be Continued…)


	13. Chapter 13

(Field)

Sylvander walked down the open street. He glanced back but didn't see Caleb around anymore.

"That's...odd," he remarked. "Caleb?"

He resisted the urge to call out any louder. He turned around though and began to walk back the way he had come. Some movement caught his eye and he turned to face an alley.

"Caleb?" he asked again quietly.

He stepped towards the shadows, where he saw a figure. The body stepped forward and revealed to be the same old woman who Caleb and Jacquie had escorted into the city.

"Aunt Gillian?" Sylvander gasped.

Just for that minute, he forgot that he had found her dead and knew that she was gone. He let his guard down long enough for her to lunge at him, transforming into a shadowy beast. Its skeletal claw dug through his stomach, leaving him to collapse, fatally wounded on the street.

Just a block over, Caleb was facing off with the ogre Rudy. The beast lumbered towards Caleb menacingly with an evil grin.

"Rudy," Caleb said nervously. "I...didn't realize you were in this game too. You look...um..."

"You like it?" Rudy cackled before slamming his fist down on the ground, sending out tremors. "Let me show you what I can do."

"Hey, hey, let's not get aggressive," Caleb said. "We don't have to resort to violence. We were friends once, remember?"

"Ha! Are you really trying to pull that on me?" Rudy spat. "Great friend, you were, you know, you actually had me believing that, so good job, not many people can pull off that kind of trick. But you went the whole way before stabbing me right in the back. I admire that sort of ice cold cruelty...but not against me. So now you're going to pay."

Caleb tried to say something but Rudy charged at him. Caleb had to dodge out of the way, but he received a harsh slap from Rudy's enormous hand. He was sent rolling along the ground and hit a wall. He pulled himself up, though, and saw Rudy barrelling straight for him. He held out his hand and closed his eyes, focusing his mind. He managed to emit a blast of bright light from his palm, causing Rudy to flinch and stumble.

"I don't want to hurt you, really," Caleb insisted.

"You still trying that holier than thou crap," Rudy scoffed. "Give it up already!"

* * *

(Mountain)

Montana made a final gracefully jump down into the snowy ground behind the wall surrounding the fortress. Raven followed after, much less gracefully rolling down and landing on her back.

"Well...I guess this is what adventure is about," Raven remarked.

"That's the spirit, right!" Montana exclaimed. "Now come on, let's see what all the excitement's about, right!"

Montana ran up to the wall and began to climb. Luckily, it was uneven and full of dents and crevices. Raven followed from behind. Once Montana landed on the other side, she pulled out her boomerang.

"Alright, let's take some of these chumps down, right!?" she exclaimed.

"Um, um..." Raven said as she grabbed Montana by the shoulders and held her back. "Maybe we...shouldn't do that. I think we're probably better off getting to this treasure first before anyone else does."

"Ah, right-o!" Montana exclaimed. "Where should we look!?"

"I don't know," Raven said helplessly as she shrugged.

"Let me rephrase that then," Montana said, "Let's pretend we're in one of your fancy adventure stories, right. And, get ready for this, you're the hero! What would you do!?"

"Hm, well...if this fortress is meant to protect, then there's probably something it's protecting...it was build right into the mountain...the way I see it, we need to get right down into the core and we'll find what they're hiding," Raven recited.

"Then let's stop wasting time and get moving!" Montana said as she grabbed Raven by the arm and rushed down the hall.

Meanwhile, much further down the mountain, Judie and Calvin were meeting.

"Okay, so what's the plan!?" Judie asked Calvin.

Calvin prepared to say something, but stopped himself.

"Hm...well, I had an idea," he said, "but it probably wouldn't have been as good as whatever you're already hatching."

"Bingo!" Judie said. "So stop wasting time! Here's the way I see it, she's got the advantage in there, but if we lure her out into the open, then its Nighthawk's game!"

"So what do you want me to do?" Calvin asked.

"Um, did I say Duskowl's game?" Judie asked. "No, I did not! I've got this one covered! Find some other way to make yourself useful!"

Judie then crept through the caves again. She clung to the walls and eventually rolled out in front of Ilona.

"Well, fancy meeting you here again," Judie remarked nonchalantly.

"You didn't get past me before and you won't now," Ilona said.

"Oh that's fine," Judie said. "Because I can just find another tunnel to get through, you didn't think this was the only one did you? Ta-ta."

Judie then turned and ran back the way she had come. Ilona chased after her though. Ilona quickly gained on her but as she neared, Judie spun around and delivered a kick, catching Ilona off-guard and knocking her against the rock wall.

"Going to have to try harder than that!" Judie mocked as she continued to run.

* * *

(Catacombs)

Todd, BonBon, and Teddy walked deeper into the catacombs together.

"So, we're looking for what?" Todd asked.

"An obsidian tomb," BonBon said. "If we can get it up and running again, then we're set here!"

"And what does it look like?" Todd asked.

"Well, I haven't seen it," BonBon said, "but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say a tomb made out of obsidian!"

"Hm...makes sense when you put it that way," Todd said.

The deeper the group travel, the more untouched their surroundings appeared to be. They descended steps which slowly just melted together into a solid twisted path, guiding them lower and lower.

"Anyone else feeling a little claustrophobic?" Todd asked.

"No, not really," BonBon said.

"Not a bit, not a pinch, not at all!" Teddy announced.

"Oh...well, me neither," Todd said uncertainly. "I was just checking...you know...cause I care."

"Reassuring to know," BonBon said.

Above, Eliot and Duke were still trying to plot their course.

"We have to find those heroes," Duke said. "For all we know, they could already be on their way to winning and we've still got no clue where to find them. We are not going down without some sort of fight first."

"Alright, alright, don't worry here," Eliot said before turning to his pack of wolves. "Guys, I need you to sniff'em out!"

The wolves all pointed out in different directions. One by one though, they began to line up one behind the other.

"That way!" Eliot exclaimed.

The two boys followed after the wolves as they led them through the turns of the temple.

"Aha!" Missy exclaimed as she leapt in front of them.

"We don't have time for this," Duke said. "Get out of the way, or get with us."

"I choose neither!" Missy scoffed. "I am not letting you get away with any evil deeds!"

The boys walked past her easily though.

"Hey, come back here!" she snapped. "You may be villains, but ignoring someone who's talking to you is just plain rude!"

Missy noticed a series of holes along the upcoming wall. She evilly grinned before charging at Eliot to shove him towards it.

"Oh no you don't," Duke said as she stretched out his vines and pulled Eliot back. "Not this time!"

Missy ended up running straight for the wall, triggering a trap. The holes fired a series of arrows, piercing her all through her body. She collapsed to the ground.

"And just like that, Missy is our 13th person eliminated!" Chris announced. "Didn't even need to wait till the end of the challenge for that one!"

"Well, I certainly feel better now," Duke remarked.

* * *

(Field)

Austin and Neil sat on the roof of a building as they looked down as the city, nearly empty by now.

"Heh, this is too easy," Austin remarked. "We can just set back and let them all get themselves killed."

"I told you," Mileva said. "The Ghoul will not fail us. These fools don't stand a chance."

"So, I was thinking," Neil said. "Even if we've got this won, why not try to find one of these guys, and you know, make their lives a little more difficult."

"Hm, I am feeling bored," Austin said. "Sounds like fun!"

"Ugh, just don't anything stupid," Mileva said.

The boys hopped along the roofs, looking down below them for any sign of the others. Eventually, they spotted Caleb and Rudy facing off.

"Whoa," Austin said eagerly as he leaned over the edge of the roof. "Is that an ogre!? I want it!"

"I think that's a player," Neil remarked with interest. "One of the villains for this side."

The boys watched at Rudy continued to hunt after Caleb. Caleb refused to fight back though, and clambered up a stack of crates, before throwing himself through a window. Rudy just smashed through the wall after him.

"So," Neil said, "here's what I'm thinking. Two birds, one stone, take out both of them before the challenge is even over."

"But didn't you say one of them was a villain?" Austin asked.

"So?" Neil said. "We're still getting through this alive. One less player for us to worry about in the long run."

"Ooh, that sounds good to me then," Austin said.

He focused on the building the two had just entered. He then held up his hand and generated a black flame.

"I like it," Neil said with interest.

Austin tossed the flame forward and let it hit the walls of the building. It quickly burst into flames, spreading rapidly along the wooden floors and walls, trapping Caleb and Rudy inside.

Elsewhere, Mona and Hunter were tentatively creeping out of their hiding place.

"Is it gone?" Mona asked.

"I don't think we'd even know if it was," Hunter said. "We can't just stay here like sitting ducks though."

The two carefully left the building. They moved slowly and clung to the walls.

"We have to find the others," Hunter said. "We're just waiting to be picked off on our own here."

"Do you think they'd even stand a chance?" Mona asked.

"We have to," Hunter said, "would Chris really give us a rigged—ugh!"

"Careful," Mona said, "what's that!?"

The two quickly hid behind a stack of barrels. However, Hunter peered out and realized it was Sylvander approaching them.

"Oh, am I glad to see you," Hunter said. "You would not believe what happened to us."

As Hunter walked up to meet Sylvander though, something caught Mona's eye. She noticed some shattered glass on the ground, but what caught her attention was Sylvander's reflection in them. It wasn't Sylvander but the shadowy Ghoul.

"Guh...buh...Ghoul!" she struggled out frantically while pointing.

"Huh?" Hunter remarked.

"The axe, use it!" Mona shouted. "Now!"

Hunter turned back to see Sylvander already transforming. With a swift motion he swung the axe into his skull. The creature let out an echoing screech. Hunter backed up. The beast seemed wounded, but continued to grow and transform. Soon it was looming over them and snarling viciously.

"Okay so...in hindsight, maybe making it angry wasn't the best plan," Mona said.

* * *

(Mountain)

Portia walked through the tunnel that she had found through the hatch. She shivered in the cold as a gust blew past her from the other end. As she continued, she began to see some light trickling in. She kept moving until she found the tunnel opening up at the other end. She exited and found herself on a ledge high up on the mountain peak now. It was very narrow and seemed to spiral up towards the tip. The wind and snow was blowing furiously back and forth, making the trek even more difficult. Portia carefully edged herself along. She didn't get far though, before slipping. The narrow passage did not allow much room for recovery. She had to dig her cutlass into the side of the rock to pull herself back up. Once she had regained herself, she kept moving. She had made some distance, but again she was caught off-guard, this time though, by an attack. Her head was nearly whacked by a boomerang coming from behind. She twirled around to see Montana and Raven coming up from behind.

"Alright, that's far enough, villain!" Montana exclaimed as she caught her boomerang on the return. "You're not getting that treasure!"

"Too bad, you can't stop me!" Portia retorted. "I'm already ahead of both of you."

"Not for long!" Montana said as she shimmied after her.

"Yes, for long!" Portia said while she kept moving.

"Whoa, whoa, careful with the running," Raven said as she step by step brought up the rear. "We're...really high up, really really high."

She looked down and shuddered. Montana hopped her way across the ledge up towards Portia.

"Ha!" Portia exclaimed as she swung her cutlass at Montana.

Montana pulled back, but both girls seemed shaken in balance. Montana retaliated with a swipe from her boomerang. She managed to catch Portia on the side of her arm and it was enough to cause her to slip over the edge. Once again, she used her sword to cling to the rocks. Montana had thrust herself too far forward though and also ended up rolling over the edge and just gripping the rock with her bare hands.

"Ugh, I warned you two!" Raven sighed.

Back in the lower ground, Ilona had pursued Judie out of the tunnel and to the open.

"Well, looks like your plan didn't quite work out," Ilona remarked.

"False," Judie replied, "Any plan by the Nighthawk works out exactly as intended. And now I've got you right where I want you."

Judie charged with a kick at Ilona. Ilona just turned intangible though and Judie flew right through her.

"Are you done wasting my time?" Ilona asked.

"Just getting started!" Judie replied.

Up above, Calvin was watching from a hilltop. An idea struck him though, and he began piling together some of the snow. He then rolled it along the ground, allowing it to gain momentum and sprawl down the slope and towards the girls battling. As it moved, it continued to grow in size as it picked up snow. Judie kept Ilona in position, then rolled out of way just at the right time.

"What?" Ilona remarked just before being plowed over by the snow ball.

Her body turned liquid, but she just mixed in with the snow and rolled with it. The snowball continued to move with her, until it came to the bank of the mountain stream, splashing into the water.

"Brilliant!" Judie exclaimed. "That's the teamwork I'm talking about!"

Ilona pulled herself out of the water. However, as she did, she found she was having difficulty moving, her body stayed partly liquid. She realized as it was mixing with the freezing cold water from the stream, her own body was freezing as well. She let out a quick gasp, before her entire body froze entirely.

"Ilona," Chris announced, "This is the end of the line for you...14th person eliminated! And once more, the challenge is still going for all regions!"

* * *

(Catacombs)

Duke and Eliot continued to follow the wolves. Eventually the pack stopped in front of a chute that led into darkness.

"Uh...what is it?" Duke asked.

"I think they want us to go down there?" Eliot replied.

One of the wolves barked in agreement.

"What? That looks like another death trap," Duke said.

The wolves continued to all point their noses at the hatch though.

"I think this is where the scent leads," Eliot said. "If we're going to catch up with those guys, it's through here."

"What if the wolves made a mistake?" Duke asked.

One of the wolves growled at Duke.

"The alpha requests that you not question his authority," Eliot said. "Now, let's get a move on!"

Eliot then jumped down the chute.

"If I die," Duke said as he made eye contact with the alpha, "I am blaming you for this."

Duke then jumped down after Eliot. The boys slid down through the dark, bracing for a painful impact. The chute curved though, slowing their descend and depositing them softly on the dirt ground in the lower portion of the temple.

"Okay, we didn't die," Duke said, "but I still don't see those guys anywhere."

At that point, BonBon, Todd, and Teddy all turned the corner.

"Well...that was uncanny," Duke remarked.

"Never doubt the instincts of the alpha," Eliot replied.

"Alright, losers," Duke addressed the group of heroes. "Your little quest ends here."

"Ha! You don't scare me!" BonBon boasted.

Just then, the pack of wolves came sliding out of the chute and quickly assumed a battle postion.

"How about now?" Duke asked.

"Nah, you still don't scare me," BonBon said, "though I am slightly more concerned than I had been previously."

"Get'em, boys!" Duke exclaimed.

Nothing happened.

"Oh sorry," Eliot said, "get'em, boys!"

The wolves charged at the group of heroes.

"Bad doggies!" BonBon exclaimed while swinging her sword and knocking back the wolves.

"Ha ha, bet you can't catch me!" Teddy exclaimed as he flipped over the wolves and continued to run forward.

"After him!" Eliot ordered.

"I go this!" Duke said as he sprouted out more vines.

"Whoop...too slow...so close...ooh, almost had me!" Teddy exclaimed as he jumped all over, back and forth, up and down, dodging attacks from the wolves, as well as Duke's vines.

BonBon and Todd used the chance to tiptoe past the boys and keep moving.

"Uh, Duke?" Eliot said uncertainly.

Teddy continued to move all over the place. He slid along the ground, straight under the legs of a wolf, then sprung up along the wall, launching himself into a flip to avoid the vines coming for him,

"Yeah uh...Duke.." Eliot repeated.

Teddy jumped out of the way, just in time for two wolves to butt heads. The vines swooped in for him, but he dived to the ground and slid along, curling himself up into a ball and transforming into a roll.

"Stop!" Eliot finally shouted.

He pulled Duke back and presented the tangled mess of vines, wrapped around the wolves and various portions of the cave, trapping them in place.

"Heh, try to get out of that!" Teddy exclaimed before following after Todd and BonBon.

"This challenge is as good as won for us!" BonBon laughed.

"Look!" Todd exclaimed.

He pointed down, before them they saw a smooth, dark altar, seemingly moving with shadows despite the lack of light.

"Looks like we found it!" BonBon said.

(To Be Continued...)


End file.
